Resumen

DOMENECH ASENSI, Guillermo; DURANGO VILLADIEGO, Alba Manuela  y  ROS BERRUEZO, Gaspar. Moringa oleifera : A review of food ap plications. ALAN [online]. 2017, vol.67, n.2, pp.86-97. ISSN 0004-0622.

Moringa oleifera is a tree native to certain re gions Asia and Africa, adaptable to territories of hot weather and low precipitation rates. In some areas diffe rent parts of the tree (leaves, roots, bark, flowers, pods...) are consumed as a therapeutic for different illnesses. These structures have also a high nutritional value (vita mins, minerals and essential amino acids among others) giving an important potential role in the prevention of malnutrition. The scientific literature describes many sa lutary effects of the different parts of the moringa such as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory or bactericide, among others. With the aim of bringing the properties of moringa to consumers, a few studies have been developed with different foods, mainly meat and bread, in which the moringa is incorporated as an ingredient (leaf, seed, ex tracts, etc). In meat products it is used as a preservative and antioxidant additive with very good results without affecting the sensory characteristics of the final product. In the field of bakery the objective is usually as nutritional fortification. In these cases the sensory characteristics are variable depending on the dose used and the product under study (bread, cookies, etc). The food industry has an inte resting challenge ahead: the incorporation of moringa as a natural ingredient, as a substituting different classical preservatives and antioxidant and at the same time prepa ring food commodities, such as bread, with high nutritio nal value, ideal for certain population groups in risk of malnutrition.

Palabras clave : Moringa oleifera; antioxidant; food; meat products; bread.