For kids, a dish of ice cream is probably the best way to end a meal. But for adults mindful of their fat and caloric intake, ice cream is an occasional guilty pleasure. Researchers at the University of Missouri are hoping to challenge that conception through the formulation of ice cream that contains functional ingredients like fiber, antioxidants and probiotics.

“The idea of putting a functional ingredient into a food instead of just using the nutrients found in the food naturally takes a multi-functional approach,” said Ingolf Gruen, professor of food chemistry and ice cream researcher in the University’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “Food provides calories and comfort—people want to indulge. We’re working on making ice cream satisfying and healthy.”

The process has been challenging, with regard to achieving a palatable texture and flavor, not to mention creating a product with a pleasing “psychological profile.”

“The nutrients we add often have bitter tastes and affect the texture of ice cream that we have to mask,” Dr. Gruen said. “Flavors like chocolate are easier to work with because the flavor is so strong that it can overcome other flavors from the nutrients. Another challenge is determining whether people would be upset that we’re ‘tampering’ with a comfort food. We need to know if they would be more willing to pay for ice cream with added nutritional benefits.”

The functional ingredients also posed their own unique challenges. For instance, getting the probotics to grow in high enough numbers to be considered a good source of probiotics when added to the ice cream was problematic. “Unlike in yogurt, they do not grow in ice cream but need to be ‘pre-concentrated,’ which causes the next problem of them sticking together. So the dispersion in the ice cream is difficult,” explained Dr. Gruen.

The team also experienced similar difficulties when working with acai and dietary fibers. “The acceptable flavoring level using the acai is relatively low and we need to see if it will give us a significant antioxidant activity,” he said. “Lastly, the combination of the prebiotic and the dietary fiber causes us some concern in regard to potential digestion problems—possibly too much of a good thing?”

In addition to the aforementioned nutrients, the University of Missouri team is also exploring the use of wine-making grape remnants and is also open to the possibility of formulating with omega 3 fatty acids. “Their flavor implications are a possibility since the fish industry has solved that flavor problem quite well,” said Dr. Gruen.

MU has a long history of ice cream research that dates back to the 1920s. William Henry Eddie Reid, professor emeritus of dairy manufacturing, and graduate student Wendell Arbuckle, started the program by studying the texture of ice cream. In the 1960s, Robert Marshall, professor emeritus of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, began studying ways to make ice cream meet the nutritional needs of consumers. This work led to pioneering research of low-fat ice cream. Researchers found that replacing milk fat with ingredients made from carbohydrates and proteins created low-fat frozen desserts that were similar to high-fat desserts. The ice cream industry adapted those formulas to produce the ice cream we currently consume.

MU’s latest ice cream research coincides with the 20th anniversary of Buck’s Ice Cream Parlor, an ice cream shop and research facility at MU that is best known for the invention of Tiger Stripe ice cream, a popular MU frozen treat made with French Vanilla ice cream and dark chocolate stripes, that is shipped worldwide.

For now, Dr. Gruen said he and his team are working to have a prototype ready for tasting in the next six months. He also hopes consumers will embrace the product. “I hope…that consumers will be grateful to get some ‘indulgence’ without having to feel guilty.”