Whey protein-constructed oleogels as cheese fat replacers: Modulating cheese functional behavior via protein structure modification

IF 8.5 1区农林科学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, APPLIED

Food Chemistry Pub Date : 2025-05-28 DOI:10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.144960

Si-Jie Wu , Ran Feng , Zi-Yue Chen , Yu-Nong Chen , Bao Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Whey protein aggregates (WPA), formed through controlled thermal denaturation and aggregation, have emerged as novel oleogelators with exceptional functional properties. This study aims to investigate the relationship between WPA's structure and their oleogelation performance in sunflower oil, while evaluating their potential as fat replacers in cheese formulations. By modulating heating condition (85–95 °C/15 min) and protein concentrations (5–20 %), distinct WPA microstructures were engineered. Results revealed a structure-function dependency: large-size WPA (28.1 μm) showed superior oil-holding capacity (85.4 %), whereas smaller WPA (21.3 μm) exhibited enhanced solid-like properties and thermal stability. The oleogels functioned as inert fillers in cheese matrices without significant structural effects and improved its textural and viscoelastic properties by increasing the mobile water content (7-times). These findings demonstrated that oleogels with specific properties could be customized by modulating the molecular structure of oleogelators – WPA, of which the knowledge benefits the effective fat replacement in cheese with desired texture.

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乳清蛋白构建的油凝胶作为奶酪脂肪替代品：通过蛋白质结构修饰调节奶酪的功能行为

乳清蛋白聚集体（WPA），通过控制热变性和聚集形成，已经成为具有特殊功能特性的新型油凝胶。本研究旨在探讨WPA结构与其在葵花籽油中的油凝胶性能之间的关系，同时评估其作为奶酪配方中脂肪替代品的潜力。通过调节加热条件（85-95 °C/15 min）和蛋白质浓度（5-20 %），构建了不同的WPA微观结构。结果表明：大尺寸WPA（28.1 μm）具有更好的持油能力（85.4 %），而小尺寸WPA（21.3 μm）具有更好的类固体性能和热稳定性。油凝胶在奶酪基质中起惰性填料的作用，没有明显的结构影响，并通过增加7倍的流动含水量改善了奶酪基质的结构和粘弹性。这些发现表明，可以通过调节油凝胶- WPA的分子结构来定制具有特定性质的油凝胶，这一知识有助于在具有理想质地的奶酪中有效地替代脂肪。

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来源期刊

Food Chemistry 工程技术-食品科技

CiteScore

16.30

自引率

10.20%

发文量

3130

审稿时长

122 days

期刊介绍： Food Chemistry publishes original research papers dealing with the advancement of the chemistry and biochemistry of foods or the analytical methods/ approach used. All papers should focus on the novelty of the research carried out.