Making progress in developing probiotic beverages without animal protein — ScienceDaily

Most products enriched with probiotics and protein are made with dairy products. However, consumer demand for plant protein is growing. The nutritional value of these proteins must therefore be improved to be comparable to that of animal proteins.

A team led by Professor Monique Lacroix at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has demonstrated that fermenting drinks fortified with pea and rice proteins yields the same quality of protein as casein, an animal protein found in milk. The findings were published in the Journal of Food Science.

Increasing protein intake

Using plant proteins poses some challenges. For one thing, plant proteins are deficient in certain essential amino acids necessary for the body’s proper functioning. Since the body itself doesn’t produce these amino acids, they must come from food. The combination of pea and rice proteins helped…

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