Recent advances in plant protein utilization: emerging processing, biomolecular interactions, and in vitro protein digestibility

Plant proteins have low protein digestibility compared to animal proteins due to their intrinsic structures and interference of the seed matrix components. These factors can reduce the effective utilization of plant proteins in product development for human nutrition. First, this presentation highlights our findings on the influence of bioprocessing, such as germination and solid-state fermentation, and processing technologies, such as microwave and ultrasound, in altering the microstructures and in vitro protein digestibility of plant seeds and isolated proteins. Second, plant proteins can form complexes with other components of formulated food product matrices, thus affecting the bioaccessibility and nutritional properties of proteins. This presentation discusses recent advances on the influence of plant protein-polyphenol and protein-polysaccharide interactions on in vitro protein digestibility, and the resulting effects on peptidomics profiles and the gut microbiota. Taken together, optimal plant protein processing and product formulation are crucial in their effective utilization in various food, nutritional, and health applications.