Abstract
Increase in allergenicity towards cow’s milk, lactose intolerance, the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, and flexitarian choice of food consumption have increased the market for cow’s milk alternatives. Non-dairy plant-based beverages are useful alternatives because of the presence of bioactive components with health-promoting properties, which attract health-conscious consumers. However, the reduced nutritional value and sensory acceptability of the plant-based beverages (such as flavor, taste, and solubility) compared to cow’s milk pose a big threat to its place in the market. Thermal treatments are commonly used to ensure the quality of plant-based beverages during storage. However, the application of high temperatures can promote the degradation of thermolabile compounds and some detrimental reactions, thus reducing protein digestibility and amino acid availability of non-dairy plant-based beverages substitutes. New and advanced food processing technologies, such as high-pressure processing, high-pressure homogenization, pulsed electric fields, and ultrasound, are being researched for addressing the issues related to shelf life increase, emulsion stability, preservation of nutritional content and sensorial acceptability of the final product. However, the literature available on the application of non-thermal processing technologies on the physicochemical and nutritional properties of plant-based beverages is scarce. Concerted research efforts are required in the coming years in the functional plant-based beverages sector to prepare newer, tailor-made products which are palatable as well as nutritionally adequate.
Highlights
Over the last two decades, the consumption of non-dairy plant-based beverages, traditionally referred as “vegetable milks”, coming from legumes, cereals or nuts, has increased considerably [1] due to health and environmental concerns, lactose intolerance, and flexitarian choice of food consumption, despite their taste [2]
The results showed that amandin levels were affected by all high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatments
The high-pressure homogenization (HPH) or ultra-high-pressure homogenization (UHPH) is an alternative food processing method which can be used to improve the stability of plant-based milk emulsions and their physicochemical properties with minimum effect on the nutritional properties [22]
Summary
Over the last two decades, the consumption of non-dairy plant-based beverages, traditionally referred as “vegetable milks”, coming from legumes (soybeans), cereals (rice and oats) or nuts (almonds and hazelnuts), has increased considerably [1] due to health and environmental concerns, lactose intolerance, and flexitarian choice of food consumption, despite their taste [2]. Among the different type of plant-based beverages, rice and sesame milks have the highest total carbohydrates (>15%) and calorie amount (>130 calories), while quinoa and soy milks contain the highest protein level (>4%). Sesame and oat contain oxalate and phytates [8,11] that form insoluble complexes with minerals, carbohydrates and lipids during digestion and reduced availability of these nutrients [13]. Another important compound is amandin, an allergenic protein found in almonds [14]. From a physiological point of view, the intake of cow’s milk has nothing beverages, due to the different nutritional composition.
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