Nutritional quality of protein concentrates from Moringa Oleifera leaves and in vitro digestibility

The nutritional value and digestibility of leaf proteins is still a major issue. Therefore, the goal of this work was to optimize the production of a protein concentrate (PC) from Moringa Oleifera defatted leaves (MODL) by enzymatic extraction using Viscozyme L and evaluate its nutritional quality and digestibility. Protein extraction conditions were screened using a factorial design. Enzyme/Substrate ratio and pH had no significant effect, whereas, the significant variables, temperature (degrees C), enzyme concentration and incubation time (h) were optimized by central composite design (CCD). PC contained 55.7% of proteins with a balanced amino acid profile when compared with MODL and higher content of essential amino acids (EAAs) (488.6-402.9 mg/g of protein respectively). Improvement on protein digestibility was observed for MODL compared to PC (64.75-99.86% respectively) and higher protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) (62.10-91.41% respectively). PC meets FAO protein quality expectations.

Automated summary

The study aimed to optimize the production of a protein concentrate from Moringa Oleifera defatted leaves through enzymatic extraction and evaluate its nutritional quality and digestibility. The optimized protein concentrate had higher protein content and essential amino acids, meeting the FAO protein quality expectations. The study highlighted the improvement in protein digestibility for the protein concentrate compared to defatted leaves.