Synergy of Oatmeal and Plant Proteins: Effect of different plant proteins on oatmeal nutritional profile : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Food Innovation at Lincoln University

Abstract

Oats, an extremely common staple food, are rich in health-promoting chemicals which have been researched and demonstrated to have favourable impacts on human health. Plant proteins are gaining more attention these days owing to sustainability and changing food habits of people. This study investigated if plant proteins could be added to oat porridge to make it more balanced and healthier from nutritional aspects such as qualitative and quantitative analysis of proteins, digestibility and antioxidant activity. In case of protein digestibility, fava bean, green lentil, and mung bean supplemented oat porridge samples showed significant difference than oat flour samples. Similarly, pea and chickpea had no influence on the starch digestibility of oat samples. Amino acid profiling of samples had mixed results as some of the amino acids did not differ significantly while others showed significant difference. However, there was no significant difference found in antioxidant activity of oat flour and plant protein supplemented with oat flour samples. The research results therefore serve as a solid foundation for understanding the impact of different plant proteins on oat porridge systems and determining which kinds of proteins can be added to achieve desirable effects to maximise health advantages. Future work investigating the effect of plant proteins on oats, focused on nutritional profile, may be recommended to focus on antioxidant capacity followed by digestion along with interactions of protein-starch interactions to optimise the formulations.