There is a worldwide trend to reduce sodium in industrialized food products due to its relationship with high blood pressure. Since French rolls are one of the food products most contributing towards the ingestion of sodium by the Brazilian population, the objective of this research was to evaluate the substitution of sodium chloride (NaCl) by potassium chloride (KCl) in this product, as a way of complying with this tendency. Four formulations were evaluated, standard (FP) with 2% NaCl, the substitution of 30% (F1) and 50% (F2) of this percentage by KCl, and F3 with no sodium chloride addition, equivalent to 307, 234, 176.5 and 4.5 mg sodium per French roll (50 g), respectively. All the reductions conformed with the recommendations made by ANVISA for 2014. The wheat flour used was characterized from its proximate composition, gluten content and index and the extensigraphic and farinographic analyses, being found adequate for breadmaking. The rheological characteristics of doughs prepared with saline solutions of the same concentrations as the formulations, were obtained using the extensigraph. The rolls were evaluated for specific volume and their sodium and potassium contents, and also submitted to an acceptance test with 53 bread consumers. The reduction in sodium content did not significantly alter their specific volumes. In the sensory analysis, it was not possible to differentiate up to 30% salt reduction in relation to the 2% salt standard, for all the attributes evaluated. However the formulation with 50% substitution was significantly less accepted for taste than the standard, its average acceptance score being equivalent to "I liked it slightly". The formulation with no added sodium chloride differed significantly from all the other formulations for the attribute of taste, resulting in the lowest acceptance score. The results showed the technological viability of producing French rolls with up to 30% reduction in sodium chloride (1.4% in the commercial formulation), providing rolls with the amount of sodium proposed to comply with the established limits (234 mg.50 g-1), when compared to the standard formulation with 2% salt (flour basis).
Hypertension; Prevention; Potassium chloride; Health
