SLU news
Protein nanofibrils in novel food products will not make you sick!
Published: 10 February 2023
Protein nanofibrils are a hot topic for many researchers to create suitable materials and food applications. Research conducted at the Food structure and properties group at the Department of Molecular Sciences earlier showed that protein nanofibrils can be made from a broad range of plant-based proteins such as legumes, cereals, and tubers and that these have interesting properties that can be used as stabilisers in food application.
However, there has been a concern that protein nanofibrils could trigger the aggregation of similar structured human-disease-related proteins that cause severe diseases such as Alzheimer's. Fortunately, that seems not to be the case! In a newly published study in Nature Scientific Reports from KTH together with researchers from KI and the Food structure and properties group we show that protein nanofibrils from a broad range of food proteins do not trigger the aggregation of amyloid beta (the key process in the development of Alzheimer´s diseases). These results will help to speed up the development of sustainable and healthy food and packing material made from protein nanofibrils.
For a link to the research article (click here)
KTH news article (click here)