Bezelye proteininin özelliklerinin mikrodalga glikasyonu ile iyileştirilmesi

The tendency to include plant proteins in the diet has increased significantly as consumers' preference for animal proteins decline. Sustainability goals, low manufacturing cost, and high nutritional value are also triggering this demand. For this reason, pea protein as a form of isolate and concentrate is often used in protein enriched diets due to its nutritive properties. Previously, improvement in its functional properties has been studied from many perspectives. Glycation, which is known as the initial stage of the Maillard reaction can be considered as a modification strategy for improving the functional properties. In this study, microwave was used for glycating pea protein concentrate. The objective of the study was to investigate the extent of microwave glycation between pea protein concentrate (PPC) and reducing sugars of dextrose, fructose, and the rare sugar, Allulose, by determining the soluble proteins, free amino groups, remaining reducing sugars and advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Also, the effect of two different pH values (7 and 10) and two different pea protein to sugar ratios (2:1.25 and 9:1.25) were observed. Solubility and hydration behavior of PPC were investigated afterwards. Lowry method proved that microwave glycation enhanced the solubility of dextrose samples by 50% compared to control samples. Also, the alkaline environment improved PPC solubility. Besides that, microwave glycation improved the hydration of PPC more when it is compared to water bath glycation. To conclude, the study showed that microwave glycation could be used as an alternative modification method since it improved the water-pea protein concentrate interactions more than water bath glycation.