Transforming sustainable plant proteins into high performance lubricating microgels

Abstract

With the resource-intensive meat industry accounting for over 50% of food-linked emissions, plant protein consumption is an inevitable need of the hour. Despite its significance, the key barrier to adoption of plant proteins is their astringent off-sensation, typically associated with high friction and consequently poor lubrication performance. Herein, we demonstrate that by transforming plant proteins into physically cross-linked microgels, it is possible to improve their lubricity remarkably, dependent on their volume fractions, as evidenced by combining tribology using biomimetic tongue-like surface with atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, rheology and adsorption measurements. Experimental findings which are fully supported by numerical modelling reveal that these non-lipidic microgels not only decrease boundary friction by an order of magnitude as compared to native protein but also replicate the lubrication performance of a 20:80 oil/water emulsion. These plant protein microgels offer a much-needed platform to design the next-generation of healthy, palatable and sustainable foods.

Screening of a Microbial Culture Collection: Empowering Selection of Starters for Enhanced Sensory Attributes of Pea-Protein-Based Beverages

“…Formation of microgels has been connected to improvement of the lubricating properties of food, which may result in decreased astringency and sandiness perception. 42 The degradation and destabilization of pea proteins (especially albumin) may also play a role in astringency perception. 43 Aroma Evaluation.…”

“…lactis NCC2378, L. fermentum NCC 3059, and L. rhamnosus NCC 4007) depicted in Figure are most likely related to the impact of fermentation on gel formation, which occurred during the pH shift, as no changes in the areas of the saponin-related features were observed in the metabolomics analysis (SI, Figure S5). Formation of microgels has been connected to improvement of the lubricating properties of food, which may result in decreased astringency and sandiness perception . The degradation and destabilization of pea proteins (especially albumin) may also play a role in astringency perception …”

Microstructure change and functional characteristic promotion: the structural manipulation of soy protein microparticles through pH

“…(Guo et al ., 2016; Dickinson, 2018; Soltanahmadi et al ., 2022). Emulsion templating (Lazko et al ., 2004; Fuhrmann et al ., 2019), phase separation (Cochereau et al ., 2019), hydrogel homogenisation (Kew et al ., 2023) and protein microparticle manipulation (Liu et al ., 2016a; Zhang et al ., 2020) are commonly used strategies for fabricating and modifying protein‐based colloidal structures.…”

“…Initially, CP Kelco (Chicago, IL, USA) employed the protein microparticulate technique to regulate the size of whey protein to develop a commercial fat substitute named SIMPLESSE® (Upadhyay & Chen, 2019; Upadhyay et al ., 2020). The creaminess sensation is achieved through the interaction of numerous small particles (<5 μm) flowing on the surfaces of the oral palate and tongue, as governed by ‘molecular ball‐bearing mechanisms’ (Kew et al ., 2023). Simplesse's protein microparticles find extensive utilisation in high‐protein food products, such as ice cream, cheese and yogurt (Liu et al ., 2016a).…”