Effect of Drying Temperature on the Antioxidant Capacity of a Cathodic Electroactivated Whey Permeate

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to study the antioxidant capacity of spry dried whey permeate (WP) that was subjected to a cathodic electroactivation. In this context, electroactivation technology was applied to WP to in situ convert a part of lactose into lactulose (prebiotic) with a simultaneous inducing of Maillard reactions products (MRPs) which are known to have high antioxidant capacity. The antioxidant activity (AA) of the electroactivated and dried whey permeate (EAWP) was evaluated by the DPPH scavenging activity, reducing power, ABTS•+ radical scavenging assay, and iron chelating capacity. The effect of the drying temperature on the AA of the EAWP was also evaluated. The obtained data demonstrated that electroactivation significantly (p < 0.001) enhanced the AA of WP and that this AA was mainly due to the intermediate MRPs, as shown by the highest absorbance at 294 nm. Moreover, the results showed that the drying temperature significantly influenced the AA of EAWP.