Abstract
Whey protein in the form of isolate or concentrate is widely used in food industries due to its functionality to form gel under certain condition and its nutritive value. Controlling or manipulating the formation of gel aggregates is used often to evaluate food texture. Many researchers made use of fractal analysis that provides the quantitative data (i.e., fractal dimension) for fundamentally and rationally analyzing and designing whey protein-based food texture. This quantitative analysis is also done to better understand how the texture of whey protein-based food is formed. Two methods for fractal analysis were discussed in this review: image analysis (microscopy) and rheology. These methods, however, have several limitations which greatly affect the accuracy of both fractal dimension values and types of aggregation obtained. This review therefore also discussed problem encountered and ways to reduce the potential errors during fractal analysis of each method.
Highlights
The network system of proteins is often applied to food, one of which is whey protein
The review is divided into three sections; the first section discussed the structure of whey protein and its functionality; the second section is about fractal theories in relation to food structure, methods for fractal analysis, and their limitations; the third section is a compilation on fractal dimension values and the types of aggregation of whey protein aggregates gathered from several researches
The results showed that the Df value from confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM) image is slightly lower (2.64) than the transition electron microscope (TEM) image (2.69), both results were still in the same aggregation regime (RLCA)
Summary
The network system of proteins is often applied to food, one of which is whey protein. There are several techniques that can be used to analyze fractal structure in aggregates These experimental methods were widely used to analyze and evaluate texture characteristics of whey protein-based foods which are carried out by forming a model of whey protein gel system that can be used as medium. The review is divided into three sections; the first section discussed the structure of whey protein and its functionality; the second section is about fractal theories in relation to food structure, methods for fractal analysis, and their limitations; the third section is a compilation on fractal dimension values and the types of aggregation of whey protein aggregates gathered from several researches. This was done to understand how the texture of whey protein-based food is formed despite the limitations available on each method
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