The Effect of Atmospheric Plasma on the Hydrophobicity of Powdered Whey Protein Isolate
Whey protein is considered the most nutritionally available protein powder source. This is largely due to a variety of structural properties, one of which is hydrophobicity. Hydrophobicity is the tendency of a molecule to repel water and it plays an important role in protein bioavailability. Increasing hydrophobicity of whey protein may increase nutritional availability and thus, have various applications in the food industry. As such, techniques used to modify hydrophobicity warrant further investigation. A technique that is currently of interest is plasma-surface modification (PSM), a process that has been shown to alter the surface properties of inorganic and organic materials. In this study we explore the effect of PSM on the hydrophobicity of dry protein powder. We use 8-anilinonaphtalene-1-sulfonic acid (ANS) Probe Spectrofluorometry to measure the hydrophobicity of a pristine sample of whey protein isolate and samples exposed to various atmospheric plasma conditions and demonstrate an increase in hydrophobicity with application of PSM. These findings provide further confirmation of the utility of PSM using atmospheric plasma in the food and nutrition industries.