Functionality of oat based food ingredients

Abstract

This master thesis work was performed in collaboration with the agricultural cooperative Lantmännen. With the ambition to take a world leading role in the development of unique products based on oats, Lantmännen has developed two oat based powders; one protein powder, PrOatein™, and one β-glucan powder, PromOat®. The aim of this master thesis project was to investigate the functional properties of the products and evaluate their potential use as ingredients in food formulations. Based on this, potential food product prototypes using PrOatein™ and PromOat® as ingredients were developed.
The analysis of PrOatein™ was aimed to investigate the protein solubility and how it was affected by changes in pH and ionic strength, and the combination of the two. It was found that solubility showed no or little change in a pH range of 3.14-6.42. Ionic strengths in the range of 7.63-1030 mmol/L had effect on solubility at pH 3.15, 4.80 and 5.24 but not at pH 6.42 and 4.32. The overall solubility is rather low, ≈5% of the total protein. High pressure homogenisation as a pretreatment was shown to somewhat increase the solubility, decrease particle size, increase sedimentation time and increase the total volume of the sediment.
The analysis of PromOat® was aimed to investigate the rheological properties and how it was affected by changes in pH and ionic strength, as well as at what concentration a yield stress was present. PromOat® showed Newtonian flow behavior at a concentration of 1% w/v and shear thinning behavior at concentrations of 3, 6 and 9% w/v. The flow behavior was unaffected in a pH range of 3.14-6.42 and at ionic strengths in the range of 6.83-1010 mmol/L.
Yield stress was seen above a PromOat® concentration of 7.4% w/v. Overall, PromOat® serves well to be used as a viscosity modifier in food products.
The part of the project devoted to product development aimed to develop prototypes of high protein (≥20 energy%) and high fiber (≥3 g fiber/100 kcal) products. High concentration of PrOatein™ gave a tendency of astringency to the mouthfeel of the formulation while PromOat® gave a sensation of filmyness. However, a combination of the two seemed to counteract the astringency and filmyness that the ingredients contributed with separately. It was concluded that the combination of PrOatein™ and PromOat® make good ingredients for the formulation of a smoothie and a pudding with suitable viscosity and a pleasant mouthfeel. The developed food products contained sufficient amounts of PromOat® and PrOatein™ to be claimed as high protein and high fiber products.

Popular Abstract

Consumers seek more healthy and sustainable diets and more and more people are adapting to a more plant based diet. This has awakened a huge interest for food companies to produce more plant based products and the market is exploding with new, innovative products to meet this need. But, what is the actual potential of plant based ingredients and how can they be used in food applications to live up to the increasing demand of more sustainable food products?
The fact that people want to reduce their meat consumption is clear. 2018 the meat consumption in Sweden was reduced by 2 kg per person and year, for the second year in a row. However, changing to plant based raw materials comes with many challenges. Vegetable proteins do not have the same nutritional quality as proteins of animal origin, and therefore a person with a vegetarian diet needs to be more aware of food sources to attain adequate amounts of essential amino acids. Also, using plant based raw material in food applications comes with processing difficulties for the industry to live up to a desired texture, taste and nutritional value.
Lantmännen produces a range of oat ingredients out of Nordic oats. PromOat® beta-glucan is a soluble oat bran
fibre which can provide important health and functional benefits as well as it can be used as a thickening agent to provide stability and a creamy mouthfeel. Proatein™ oat protein contains > 50% protein and has high levels of essential amino acids as well as having a neutral taste. Oats have been harvested in Sweden for over 2000 years and have great water tolerance and require lower summer heats compared to other cereals, making it perfectly suitable to grow in the Swedish climate. Oats are generally considered healthy and nutritious as they are full of fibers and other vitamins and minerals.
The functionality of these two ingredients from Lantmännen, PromOat® and PrOatein™, and their potential use
as food ingredients have been investigated in this project. Despite a low protein solubility, PrOatein™ can enrich products with protein of high nutritional quality. It appears rather stable and changes in pH and ionic strange has little effect on functional properties, such as solubility and water holding capacity. By homogenising the powder in liquid, protein particles become six times smaller. This significantly decreases the sedimentation rate, thus increases the stability and has desired outcome to the sensory experience, giving a smooth mouthfeel. PromOat® has the ability to stabilise systems and can serve as a thickening agent due to the capability to increase the viscosity.
Furthermore, it adds to the nutritional value due to the high fibre and β-glucan content. The two powders in
combination, increases the gelling capacity and seem to counteract some less desired properties of the two powders individually, such as sandiness from PrOatein™ and filmyness from PromOat®. The knowledge of the
functionality of the powders was used to develop two prototype products using the two powders. This resulted in one berry and cardamom smoothie and one mocha pudding. The products contain >20 energy % from protein and
>3 g fibre per 100 kcal and can therefore be claimed as both high protein and high fibre products.
To conclude, PromOat® and PrOatein™ have high potential to be used in food applications and can help to meet
the fast-growing demand of nutritious plant based food products.

• author: Vikenborg, Charlott and Stensson, Fay
• supervisor: Björn Bergenståhl; Mats Larsson; Emma Nordell
• organization: Food Technology and Nutrition (M.Sc.)
• course: KLGM10 20201
• year: 2020
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Agriculture and Food Sciences; Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Oat protein, beta-glucans, food technology, livsmedelsteknologi
• language: English
• id: 9026173
• date added to LUP: 2020-09-14 13:33:06
• date last changed: 2020-09-14 13:33:06