Production and functional characteristics of low-sodium high-potassium soy protein for the development of healthy soy-based foods

The plant-based products that are mainly produced by soy protein isolate (SPI) present significantly higher so-dium (Na) content than the corresponding animal-based products. Accordingly, the production of low-sodium soy protein ingredients becomes a challenging task. For this purpose, alternative soy fractionation processes were investigated, and the use of KOH as the replacement for NaOH has been established to produce soy protein fractions (SPFs). The obtained MF-K contained 0.2 mg sodium and 24 mg potassium per 100 g of fraction, which was 3 % of the sodium content in the SPI, and the potassium content was over 10 times higher than SPI. Besides, using KOH increased the protein content of SPFs by almost 7 %, as well as their water holding capacity (WHC) and thermal stability; however, the yields of SPFs were dropped by around 4-8 % while the protein solubility of SPFs was reduced companied with the application of KOH. The fractionation processes mainly affected the protein composition, powder morphology, and viscosity of SPFs, while the sodium and potassium content showed limited impacts on the variations. Overall, the application of KOH during different fractionation pro-cedures provided the possibility to produce low-sodium high-potassium soy protein ingredients for the devel-opment of healthy soy-based foods.

Automated summary

Plant-based products produced from soy protein isolate (SPI) have higher sodium (Na) content compared to animal-based products. Alternative soy fractionation processes using KOH as a replacement for NaOH have been established to produce low-sodium soy protein fractions (SPFs). The application of KOH increases the protein content, water holding capacity (WHC), and thermal stability of SPFs, while reducing the yields and protein solubility. Overall, the use of KOH provides the possibility to develop low-sodium high-potassium soy protein ingredients for healthy soy-based foods.