Vitamin B4 as a salt substitute: application to bread

To this day, bread is still the flagship product of the French people’s daily diet. Unfortunately, it also accounts for a significant portion of the day's intake of salt. Since 2002, ANSES has recommended that the amount of salt in the preparation of bread dough should not exceed 18 grams per kilo of flour. However, salt plays an important technological role in bread dough and helps to improve the organoleptic qualities of bread. This makes it difficult to do a simple salt reduction. Another lock on making bread that has been reduced to salt is this great love affair between the French and their bread. The question of the social acceptability of changing the recipe for bread arises.

The project focused on finding a substitute for a low-salt bread that was approved by industry and consumers. In the literature, choline chloride is described as an essential nutrient and is recognized as a compound capable of acting as a partial substitute for salt and a flavor enhancer. The innovation proposed in this work is therefore twofold, it includes both the reduction of a manufacturing agent, NaCl, and the addition of a substitute, choline chloride.

The positive effect of CC has been demonstrated from a technological point of view (texture, rate of replenishment). Sensorially, CC showed a moderate increase in salty perception in salt-reduced bread. In terms of acceptability, the nutritional qualities of this bread have appealed to health-conscious consumers in their food choices and to those seeking a strong food education. On the other hand, among consumers who are very attached to the values of tradition associated with bread, the "medicalization" of this food has been a major obstacle to its consumption.

CC is therefore a relevant alternative to salt that combines technological and sensory advantages, but its success will depend on taking into account societal acceptability.

This work was carried out within the framework of the thesis of Doina Crucean directed by A. Le Bail (ONIRIS-GEPEA) and co-directed by P. Le Bail (INRA-BIA).