Magnesium-enriched bread made using deep seawater

Abstract

The intake of magnesium (Mg) which is one of the essential nutrients for human health has been decreasing in Japan since the national health and nutrition survey started in 1946. Therefore, efficient methods of Mg intake have been expected. Bread is the focus of attention as a food for efficient Mg intake because it has been become one of the daily foods in Japan. In this study, we investigated the effect of water, which was used as the second largest ingredient following wheat flour as a material for bread making. Deep seawater (DSW) which contained rich Mg was used for bread making as the test water and tap water (TW) was used as a control. Bread making was carried out using a commercially available home bakery machine in this study. The amount of Mg in the test bread, the increment of which is the most important object in this study, and the amounts of other major minerals (Na, K, Ca) included in them were measured. In addition, the texture and physical characteristics of the test bread were evaluated. As a result, it was elucidated that the test bread was 5.3 times larger than the control bread in the amount of Mg. On the other hand, there were few differences in the texture and physical characteristics between the test bread and the control bread, which provided useful results in this study. Furthermore, it was elucidated that the test bread was higher than the control bread in a moisture retention capacity. From these results, it was suggested that DSW could be a promising ingredient in bread making for ingesting Mg efficiently.