The degree of protein aggregation in whey protein isolate-based dispersions modifies their surface and rheological properties

• Main Authors: Eitty Maticorena, Claudio Alarcón, Elizabeth Troncoso, Rommy N. Zúñiga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-01-01
• Series: CyTA - Journal of Food
• Subjects: Surface properties; rheological properties; whey protein isolate; aggregates
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19476337.2017.1358766

This work aims to study the effect of degree of protein aggregation on the surface and rheological properties of whey protein isolate dispersions with different concentrations (80, 100 and 120 g/kg), pHs (5.5 or 6.5) or NaCl contents (1 or 2 g/kg). Dispersions were thermally treated at 70, 75 and 80°C for different times. By mixing aggregated with native protein dispersions, different degrees of aggregation (0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 80%) were obtained. Surface tension of the dispersions was determined by the pendant drop method, whilst their rheological properties were obtained from flow curve tests. A slight effect of the degree of aggregation over diffusion was found, which indicates that native proteins dominated the decrease in surface tension. The rheological behavior of dispersions with NaCl addition changed from Newtonian to shear thinning for aggregation degrees above 20%, whilst all dispersions at pH 5.5 and 6.5 presented a shear thinning behavior.