The scientific and practical principles of creating products with increased protein content

Abstract

The studies show that there is an increased interest in the market for the production of protein-fortified products due to the clearly observed trend of general decline in the protein intake by the population. The purpose of this work is to develop the new types of dairy products with increased protein content using the principle of products gradation for protein content, and to assess their functional and textural characteristics. The applied methods included an assessment of the rheological and textural characteristics, an optical microscopy, and the characteristic of color parameters of the products developed. It has been shown that the protein performs various functions in dairy products, such as changes in structural properties of the dairy products, reduction of fat level, and fortification of the products with the rich source of the branched-chain essential amino acids. The assessment of the textural properties of the developed products, which includes the measurements of the viscosity versus shear rate relationship, of the functional and technological properties of foam (fold and stability), and of the texture parameters (hardness and adhesion), has showed the acceptability of the developed technological solutions. The inclusion of the desired level of protein into the dairy products has not significantly affected their textural characteristics. An analysis of the viscosity-shear rate relationship has demonstrated the similar trends in the rheological properties for all the products studied. The texture of the new products was analyzed instrumentally pointing to their similarity with the commercial versions of the products containing half as much of the complete protein. The results of the study indicate the similar values of the color attributes of the developed products. The studies of the biological value of the new products has showed an increased content of the essential amino acids to an average of up to 76.9%, 80%, and 80.7% in cream, drinks, and desserts, respectively, as compared to their commercial counterparts. The amount of leucine, which is an amino acid that plays a fundamental role in the muscle protein synthesis, increased up to 61.9%, as compared to the commercial variants. This study can lay the foundation for the further development of a wide range of the structured food products with increased protein content