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Functional Plant Proteins for Food Applications and Health Promotion
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Functional Plant Proteins for Food Applications and Health Promotion

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Physics and (Bio)Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2023) | Viewed by 13972

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ifeanyi D. Nwachukwu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, 24951 North Circle Drive, Nichol Hall 1321, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA
Interests: plant-based diets; plant protein products; protein chemistry; bioactive peptides; functional foods; nutraceuticals; food protein structure and function; immunonutrition; nutritional biochemistry; molecular nutrition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent times, the research spotlight has been increasingly beamed on the use of plant proteins for producing important food ingredients and designing new food products, the role of plant proteins in enhancing human health, and the employment of plant proteins as a vital, if not principal, component of plant-based diets. The structural complexity of proteins and their unique combinations of biological, nutritional, physicochemical, and functional properties make them ideal candidates for use as ingredients in designing diverse and extremely versatile products for food applications and health promotion. In addition, the presence of phytochemicals and fiber in plants and the low fat content of plant proteins have, among other things, combined to make plant protein foods immensely attractive to today’s highly health-conscious consumers and to the food industry. Furthermore, since food preference is an important determinant of food consumption, consumers who, for ethical or religious reasons, do not consume meats have further contributed to driving the demand for plant-based diets of which plant proteins invariably constitute a major ingredient.

For this Special Issue of Foods, you are invited to submit manuscripts (both original research and review articles) related to the structure and function of plant proteins; the use of plant proteins for health promotion including the prevention, delay, and/or management of chronic disease conditions; the production of plant proteins (including, but not limited to, enzymatic hydrolysis) and the characterization of their functional properties; the use of plant proteins to enrich or enhance the nutritional quality of food products; the production and design of innovative food products, e.g., meatless burgers using plant proteins; and the use of newer technologies to enhance or modify plant protein ingredient functionality.

It is my expectation that the high-quality manuscripts collected in this Special Issue will not only serve as a veritable and concise bank of information on this theme but will also contribute to enhancing the current understanding of issues in plant protein research and help drive important conversations for future research directions and collaborations.

Dr. Ifeanyi D. Nwachukwu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant proteins
  • protein chemistry
  • bioactive peptides
  • functional foods
  • plant-based nutrition
  • food protein product development
  • protein structure–function
  • peptide transport
  • protein-based nanodelivery systems

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1933 KiB  
Article
Physicochemical Characterization of Interactions between Blueberry Polyphenols and Food Proteins from Dairy and Plant Sources
by Bianca Chima, Paul Mathews, Scott Morgan, Sarah A. Johnson and Charlene B. Van Buiten
Foods 2022, 11(18), 2846; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11182846 - 14 Sep 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2612
Abstract
Polyphenols are widely known for their benefits to human health; however, dietary intake of this class of compounds is low in the United States due to low intake of fruits and vegetables. Dairy foods (i.e., milk, yogurt) have been shown to increase polyphenol [...] Read more.
Polyphenols are widely known for their benefits to human health; however, dietary intake of this class of compounds is low in the United States due to low intake of fruits and vegetables. Dairy foods (i.e., milk, yogurt) have been shown to increase polyphenol bioavailability via protein–polyphenol interactions, which may have important implications for human health. Increasing consumer interest in sustainability and health has led to the introduction of a variety of novel plant-based proteins and related food products as dairy alternatives. This study compared whey, a popular dairy-based food protein, to pea and hemp proteins for their abilities to form complexes with polyphenols from blueberries, which are a widely consumed fruit in the US with demonstrated health effects. Physical and chemical characteristics of each protein extract in the presence and absence of blueberry polyphenols were investigated using a variety of spectroscopic methods. The influence of polyphenol complexation on protein digestion was also assessed in vitro. While all proteins formed complexes with blueberry polyphenols, the hemp and pea proteins demonstrated greater polyphenol binding affinities than whey, which may be due to observed differences in protein secondary structure. Polyphenol addition did not affect the digestion of any protein studied. Solution pH appeared to play a role in protein–polyphenol complex formation, which suggests that the effects observed in this model food system may differ from food systems designed to mimic other food products, such as plant-based yogurts. This study provides a foundation for exploring the effects of plant-based proteins on phytochemical functionality in complex, “whole food” matrices, and supports the development of plant-based dairy analogs aimed at increasing polyphenol stability and bioavailability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Plant Proteins for Food Applications and Health Promotion)
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15 pages, 2809 KiB  
Article
Oat Protein Concentrates with Improved Solubility Produced by an Enzyme-Aided Ultrafiltration Extraction Method
by Mika Immonen, Julia Myllyviita, Tuula Sontag-Strohm and Päivi Myllärinen
Foods 2021, 10(12), 3050; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10123050 - 8 Dec 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5507
Abstract
The aim of this study was to develop an extraction method to produce highly functional oat protein concentrates. We investigated the possibility of combining enzyme-aided slightly alkaline (pH 8.0) extraction with ultrafiltration and subsequent diafiltration for concentration of the extracted oat proteins. A [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to develop an extraction method to produce highly functional oat protein concentrates. We investigated the possibility of combining enzyme-aided slightly alkaline (pH 8.0) extraction with ultrafiltration and subsequent diafiltration for concentration of the extracted oat proteins. A further aim was to study how the deamidation of oat proteins with protein-glutaminase (PG) improves the solubility of proteins as a function of the following parameters: pH (6.0–9.0), enzyme dosage (4–20 U/g protein), and incubation time (1–4 h) with response surface methodology (RSM). Furthermore, we investigated selected functional properties, such as heat-induced gelation and solubility, of the oat protein concentrates. The chosen parameters for the enzymatic deamidation pre-treatment process by PG were as follows: pH 8.0, dosage 11.0 U/g protein, and an incubation time of 4 h (1 h at native pH and 3 h at pH 8.0). Two oat protein concentrates were produced, non-deamidated and ultrafiltered, and deamidated and ultrafiltered, with protein concentrations of 45.0 and 52.4%, respectively. The solubility of both oat protein concentrates was significantly improved at neutral and slightly alkaline pH compared to the solubility of proteins extracted from the starting material. Additionally, both oat protein concentrates produced equally strong heat-induced gel-like structures at a protein concentration of 10%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Plant Proteins for Food Applications and Health Promotion)
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Review

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21 pages, 754 KiB  
Review
Legume Seed Protein Digestibility as Influenced by Traditional and Emerging Physical Processing Technologies
by Ikenna C. Ohanenye, Flora-Glad C. Ekezie, Roghayeh A. Sarteshnizi, Ruth T. Boachie, Chijioke U. Emenike, Xiaohong Sun, Ifeanyi D. Nwachukwu and Chibuike C. Udenigwe
Foods 2022, 11(15), 2299; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11152299 - 2 Aug 2022
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4593
Abstract
The increased consumption of legume seeds as a strategy for enhancing food security, reducing malnutrition, and improving health outcomes on a global scale remains an ongoing subject of profound research interest. Legume seed proteins are rich in their dietary protein contents. However, coexisting [...] Read more.
The increased consumption of legume seeds as a strategy for enhancing food security, reducing malnutrition, and improving health outcomes on a global scale remains an ongoing subject of profound research interest. Legume seed proteins are rich in their dietary protein contents. However, coexisting with these proteins in the seed matrix are other components that inhibit protein digestibility. Thus, improving access to legume proteins often depends on the neutralisation of these inhibitors, which are collectively described as antinutrients or antinutritional factors. The determination of protein quality, which typically involves evaluating protein digestibility and essential amino acid content, is assessed using various methods, such as in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestibility, protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (IV-PDCAAS), and digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS). Since most edible legumes are mainly available in their processed forms, an interrogation of these processing methods, which could be traditional (e.g., cooking, milling, extrusion, germination, and fermentation) or based on emerging technologies (e.g., high-pressure processing (HPP), ultrasound, irradiation, pulsed electric field (PEF), and microwave), is not only critical but also necessary given the capacity of processing methods to influence protein digestibility. Therefore, this timely and important review discusses how each of these processing methods affects legume seed digestibility, examines the potential for improvements, highlights the challenges posed by antinutritional factors, and suggests areas of focus for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Plant Proteins for Food Applications and Health Promotion)
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