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Drying-Induced Structural and Oxidative Transformations in Sustainable Proteins: Impact on Physicochemical Properties
Yoon Hlaine Barani1, Passakorn Kingwascharapong2, Vikas Kumar3
1Unit of Innovative Food Packaging and Biomaterials, School of Agro-Industry, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand.
Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 28, 2026
Summary
Stabilizing flavor in plant and marine proteins during drying is key for sustainable foods. Understanding protein structure and drying effects helps create better-tasting alternative proteins.
Area of Science:
- Food Science
- Biophysics
- Sustainable Food Systems
Background:
- Growing demand for sustainable food systems drives interest in alternative proteins from plants and blue foods.
- Flavor stabilization during dehydration is a major challenge for alternative protein commercialization.
- Drying processes alter protein structure, affecting flavor compound binding and release.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a structure-process-function framework connecting protein architecture, drying effects, and flavor binding.
- To analyze differences between plant and marine proteins regarding structure and oxidative stability.
- To evaluate how drying methods impact protein denaturation and flavor interactions.
Main Methods:
- Review and synthesis of existing literature on protein structure, drying technologies, and flavor chemistry.
- Contrast of globular plant proteins with fibrous marine proteins.
- Evaluation of drying-induced protein modifications (unfolding, aggregation, carbonylation).
- Integration of structural biophysics with computational modeling (molecular docking, structure-based modeling).
Main Results:
- Drying technologies induce structural changes and oxidative modifications in proteins, impacting flavor retention and release.
- Protein structure, amino acid composition, and oxidative vulnerability differ significantly between plant and marine sources.
- Drying modalities influence protein unfolding, aggregation, and carbonylation, altering flavor-binding sites and lipid-protein interactions.
- Hybrid plant-marine protein matrices show potential for improved techno-functionality.
Conclusions:
- A framework linking protein structure, drying processes, and flavor interactions is proposed.
- Understanding these relationships allows for targeted selection of protein sources and drying strategies.
- This approach can guide the development of high-quality, sensorially appealing, and sustainable next-generation food products.
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