When making decisions on developing food products,
especially those fortified with protein, there are many factors to consider.
Factors like: what will the finished product be? What is the desired protein
content? What is the desired shelf life? What is the target pH? Does this
product require heating, and if so to what temperature? Does this product need
to be vegetarian? Vegan? What allergens are allowed to be present? There’s
never a shortage of questions that need to be answered. With the current trend
towards plant-based nutrition, including plant-based proteins, how do they
stack up when compared to gold standard dairy proteins? Let’s take a deep dive
in this blog entry.
Nutritional Completeness
Proteins are categorized as either complete or incomplete,
chiefly based on their amino acid composition. In fact, proteins that contain
the “nine” essential amino acids are considered to be “complete.” Amino acids
leucine, isoleucine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, histidine, methionine,
phenylalanine and lysine are all essential, meaning that the human body cannot
assimilate these indispensable nutrients. All animal proteins contain all nine
essential amino acids – this includes milk, milk proteins and anything derived
from milk. However, nearly all plant proteins lack one or more amino acids that
make it incomplete, except for soy protein. In most cases plant-based proteins
need to be combined with others in order to “compliment” the amino acid
profiles. A classic combination that works to complete proteins is rice with
legumes.
Vegetarian Compliance
Both dairy and plant-based proteins are vegetarian
compliant. However, when developing products for vegetarians it’s important
that developers look at the completeness of the proteins. Vegetarians, while
they typically consume less overall protein than their meat-eating
counterparts, are also at a high risk of protein malnutrition, mostly due to
incompleteness of protein. This is one major advantage that using dairy protein
immediately helps developers overcome. The only issue where dairy proteins
cannot be used would be for vegan food products – this is where a good working
knowledge of protein completeness, including Protein Digestibility Corrected
Amino Acid Score (PDCASS), plays an integral role in ensuring vegan products
have nutritionally complete proteins.
Sensory Advantages
Dairy proteins have major sensorial advantages over their
plant-based counterparts. Dairy proteins have a very clean, neutral and mild
milky flavor whereas plant-based can be grassy, earthy and have bean-type
flavors. This turns into developmental obstacles, often requiring flavor
maskers and additional flavoring agents to overcome this sensory objection.
Using dairy proteins comes with far less obstacles in flavoring products.
Development Advantages
It’s critical to consider the texture of the final product
and how any added protein will invariably have an impact. Key protein
attributes to consider when selecting your protein are solubility in water and
optimal pH range of the protein. Protein solubility is directly related to
attributes like grittiness – dairy proteins are notoriously smooth and creamy,
whereas plant proteins often fall out of solution and have gritty, off-pleasing
mouthfeels. Using plant-based proteins often requires the use of extra
stabilizers and hydrocolloids to achieve desired mouth feel, which is directly
related to a proteins ability to solubilize in water.
Cost Considerations
As an ingredient the protein component is likely the most
expensive ingredient (per pound) of most formulations. Dairy proteins have been
processed and refined for over five decades, whereas plant proteins (outside of
soy protein), have a comparatively shorter history. Plant proteins also carry
more manufacturing steps in order to clarify and isolate the protein, only
adding to the cost. Because of the longer history in manufacturing, more
in-depth knowledge of function and flavor, dairy proteins are pound for pound
the best choice for any non-vegan products.
Ultimately, when it comes to fortifying a food item with
protein there are many factors to consider, as presented above. When it comes
to the overall sensory experience, though, dairy proteins reigns superior. With
overall better solubility, cleaner taste profile and long-term presence in the
food industry, dairy proteins will always be the best option in all cases but
for vegan-style products.