Functional Properties of Oat Protein Concentrates

Adeola M. Alashi 1, and Rotimi E. Aluko1*
Department of Food & Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada R3T 2N2

Company by-products, usually go to waste, costing industries billions of dollars and contribute to industrial pollution or sold at minimal value as animal feed. Therefore, the objective of this study was to convert oat milling industrial waste to useful protein products that can be used as ingredients in the food industry. Oat is desirable as a food ingredient because of its bland taste, pleasant aroma and cholesterol lowering ability due to the presence of β-glucan.

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Methods: > Oat flour samples with different initial protein and bran contents (10–21% and 3–15%) were used as starting material for protein extraction. The isoelectric precipitation (IEP) method with different pH shifts was used to obtain protein rich oat samples. The samples were used to form oil-in-water emulsions and foams at different concentrations and pH conditions.

The protein contents and yields of the oat flour increased significantly after IEP protein extraction (82.10 ± 0.82 and 34.51 ± 0.79). Oat protein had a lower foaming capacity (20-30%) when compared to other standard plant proteins (soy, 50-60% and pea, 60-70% respectively). However, the emulsion stability (60-100%) and particle size distributions were comparable or better than soy (50-90%) and pea (50-100%) proteins depending on the concertation and pH used.

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Conclusion: > The significant increase in yield and protein content of the isolated oat proteins, in combination with the associated functional attributes, make the IEP an economically viable method for their production and use as a functional food ingredient.