Mechanistic insights into the stabilization of caseinglycomacropeptide foams via chia mucilage incorporation

Abstract

Chia seed mucilage (CM) is a new and sustainable edible plant hydrocolloid that exhibits a variety of techno-functional, nutritional and healthy properties that make it a valuable ingredient in food development. One of its potential aptitudes is its use as a stabilizer in colloidal systems, for this reason this study proposes to explore the use of CM as a foam stabilizing agent, particularly in mixtures with caseinglycomacropeptide (CMP), a dairy peptide with great foaming capacity but a poor stability. For this purpose, interaction and interfacial studies were carried out, as well as the evaluation of the foam-forming and foam-stabilizing capacity.

In this study, it was confirmed that CM can be used as a stabilizer for CMP foams and two mechanisms that regulate this stability were identified: 1) the contribution to the increase in viscosity of the continuous phase, which was greater at higher CM concentration, both at pH 7 (2.61–3.7 mPa s, for 0.1 % w/w and 10.17–23.3 mPa s, for 0.5 % w/w) and 3 (2.7 mPa s, for 0.1 % w/w and 7.57–19.3 mPa s, for 0.5 % w/w), increasing the viscosity of the liquid in the lamella border and slowing down the liquid drainage and the bubbles coalescence; 2) the improvement of the rheological properties of the interfacial film (with elastic modulus values about 45–55 mN/m for CMP-CM versus 20–35 mN/m for individual components) by the synergistic performance of the CMP-CM complex at the air-water interface, which occurs under conditions where the biopolymers have opposite charges (pH 3), promoting the formation of a more elastic and resistant film, which avoid the foam collapse. These findings can be exploited to a better design of a stable foam in real products, with the advantage that using a novel ingredient with numerous reported health benefits.