Determination of protein profile after in vitro digestion of yogurt enriched with chia seeds and germinated seeds and sprouts

Increasing consumer interest in a healthy lifestyle and health-enhancing natural products has led to an increase in global demand for functional dairy products. In order to meet this demand, new food product development efforts have increased in the food industry. Functional food production is one of the most studied topics in both the scientific world and the food industry. Generally, in functional food production, foods are enriched with various nutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc.) or bioactive ingredients. The most important drawback in functional food research is unknown behaviors of these components in the food matrix after enrichment, whether they can be released from the food matrix during digestion and / or interacted with nutrients food contains (proteins, carbohydrates, etc.). Therefore, it is important to determine whether functional foods provide health benefits within the food matrix besides produce sensory acceptability. In this master thesis, we aimed to enrich the yogurt with high-quality protein and phenolic compounds source, germinated lentil and cowpea seeds and sprouts, and chia seeds rich in ω-3 fatty acids and dietary fiber. The other aims of this thesis can be explained as to compare proximate composition, fatty acid profile and total phenolic content of yogurts, to determine protein profiles of yogurts after in vitro digestion, to find out effect of addition of these compounds on gastric digestion of β-lactoglobulin , a well-known allergen protein, to produce yogurts which have sensory acceptability along with potential health benefits. The potential of short-chain fatty acid production was evaluated by modeling of the colonic fermentation by using enzymes. Protein and phenolic contents of yogurt containing chia seeds, and germinated seeds and sprouts were higher than those of control yogurt. The total phenolic content of yogurts after in vitro digestion increased by 13-23 fold. As expected yogurt containing chia seeds displayed ω-3 fatty acid (ALA), but none of the other yogurts did not contain any ω-3 fatty acid. Protein profiles obtained for yogurts after in vitro gastric digestion showed that the intensity of the β-lactoglobulin band was lighter in yogurt containing chia seeds than those of other yogurts. Results of model colonic fermentation showed that only control yogurt caused production of propionic acid in addition to acetic and butyric acids. However, the other yogurts caused the production of acetic and butyric acids.