Characterization of Rheological and Molecular Properties of Whey Protein Thickeners

Abstract

The production of whey protein thickeners by drying protein gels to produce instant thickening powders has been previously investigated. The use of native whey proteins as a food thickener, however, has not been studied earlier. In this work, we characterized thermally treated whey protein solutions with improved thickening properties. Viscosity contour maps were constructed to outline the viscosity values at different protein and salt concentrations. Huggins-Kraemer constants revealed that at low ionic strengths, polymerized protein molecules behave as flexible coils, while at higher ionic strengths, molecules appear to be aggregated in a spherical like shape.

Keywords:

• Thickener
• Whey protein isolate
• Viscosity
• Gel point
• Intrinsic viscosity
• SDS-PAGE
• Huggins and Kraemer