Food properties of egg white protein modified by rare ketohexoses through <scp>M</scp>aillard reaction

Abstract

Summary d ‐psicose ( P si), a rare ketohexose, improves food properties of proteins through the Maillard reaction ( MR ) much more than d ‐fructose (Fru). This encouraged us to investigate the improvement of food properties of proteins through MR with various rare ketohexoses ( d ‐psicose, Psi; d ‐tagatose, Tag; and d ‐sorbose, Sor). The food properties of egg white protein ( EWP ) after reaction with Psi, Tag, Sor and Fru were studied. Psi‐ EWP (43.3 μmol TE g −1 ) and Tag‐ EWP (43.4 μmol TE g −1 ) had the highest antioxidant activity, followed by Sor‐ EWP (38.4 μmol TE g −1 ) and Fru‐ EWP (38.9 μmol TE g −1 ). MR enhanced the breaking stress of heat‐induced EWP gels by 224–267%. The breaking stress was higher in Psi‐ EWP (81.1 kN m −2 ), Tag‐ EWP (80.0 kN m −2 ) and Sor‐ EWP (77.8 kN m −2 ) than in Fru‐ EWP (71.6 kN m −2 ). Furthermore, the foaming capacity was highest in Psi‐ EWP and Sor‐ EWP . Rare ketohexoses improved food properties of EWP more than Fru. Overall, Psi offered the greatest functional improvement.