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

Tassadit Benhammouche; Armindo Melo; Zita Martins; Miguel A Faria; Susana C M Pinho; Isabel M L P V O Ferreira; Farid Zaidi

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.128858

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

Food Chem. 2021 Jun 30:348:128858. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.128858. Epub 2020 Dec 24.

Authors

Tassadit Benhammouche¹, Armindo Melo², Zita Martins³, Miguel A Faria³, Susana C M Pinho⁴, Isabel M L P V O Ferreira⁵, Farid Zaidi⁶

Affiliations

¹ Département des Sciences Alimentaires, Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université de Bejaia, Bejaia, Algeria; LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemical Sciences, Food Science Laboratory and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal.
² National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Department of Environmental Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal; LAQV/REQUIMTE, University of Porto, Portugal.
³ LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemical Sciences, Food Science Laboratory and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal.
⁴ LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemical Sciences, Food Science Laboratory and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal; LAQV, REQUIMTE, Institute for the Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Portugal.
⁵ LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemical Sciences, Food Science Laboratory and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: isabel.ferreira@ff.up.pt.
⁶ Département des Sciences Alimentaires, Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université de Bejaia, Bejaia, Algeria.

PMID: 33508602
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.128858

Abstract

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 (°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.

Keywords: Amino acids; In vitro digestibility; Moringa oleifera defatted leaves; Protein concentrate; Protein quality; RSM.

MeSH terms

Amino Acids, Essential / analysis
Digestion*
Moringa oleifera / chemistry*
Nutritive Value*
Plant Leaves / chemistry*
Plant Proteins / chemistry*
Plant Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

Amino Acids, Essential
Plant Proteins