Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of γ-irradiation (IR), ultrasound (US), and combined treatments of ultrasound followed by γ-irradiation (US-IR), ultrasound followed by enzymatic hydrolysis with and without centrifugation (US-E and US-EWC, respectively), and ultrasound followed by γ-irradiation and enzymatic hydrolysis (US-IRE), on the digestibility and the nutritional value of fermented beverages containing probiotics. Results showed that US (20 min), IR (3 kGy) and US-IR (tUS = 20 min, dose = 3 kGy) treatments raised protein solubility from 11.5 to 21.5, 24.3 and 29.9%, respectively. According to our results, these treatments were accompanied by the increased amount of total sulfhydryl groups, surface hydrophobicity and changes to the secondary structure of the proteins measured by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Fermented probiotic beverages, non-enriched (C) and enriched with untreated (Cr) or treated cricket protein with combined treatments were also evaluated for their in vitro protein digestibility. Results showed that the soluble fraction of US-IRE fermented beverage had the highest digestibility (94%) as compared to the whole fermented tested beverages. The peptides profile demonstrated that US-IRE had a low proportion of high molecular weight (MW) peptides (0.7%) and the highest proportion of low MW peptides by over 80% as compared to the other treatments.
Highlights
The concern of consumers is turning towards functional foods, probioticbased products, food enriched with proteins, and polyphenols, which are becoming more and more successful and present today within a market in continuous progress
Three (3) combinations were carried out: ultrasound followed by enzymatic hydrolysis with and without recovery of the whole hydrolysis product (USE and US-EWC, respectively) and ultrasound followed by γ-irradiation and enzymatic hydrolysis (US-IRE)
Insect protein is a rich source of amino acids, and in this work the effect of ultrasound (US), γ-irradiation (IR), and enzymatic hydrolysis (E) of cricket proteins and their combined processes on the physicochemical, structural properties and in vitro digestibility on fermented beverages enriched with such cricket protein was analyzed
Summary
The concern of consumers is turning towards functional foods, probioticbased products, food enriched with proteins, and polyphenols, which are becoming more and more successful and present today within a market in continuous progress. Ultrasound treatment (sonication) has been used successfully to improve the efficiency of the enzymatic hydrolysis treatment and the functional properties of proteins [22] These techniques have the ability to alter the protein structure, resulting in the improvement of the functionality properties and the nutritional value of the proteins, adding to the benefits of a better energy efficiency by the production of peptides with high nutritional value, resulting in a good protein digestibility [23,24], food safety and nutrient preservation [25,26]. Fermentation is considered as a process that decreases the levels of anti-nutrients in food grains, increasing the digestibility and their nutritive value [28,29,30,31] Combined treatments such as ultrasound pre-treatment assisted by enzymatic hydrolysis or γ-irradiation, has attracted increasing attention [32]. Few studies were evaluated for their effect on the nutritional value and on the digestibility of protein in general
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