Meat-alternative protein sources are gaining traction. These sources can help us achieve more varied diets and experiment culinary without forgetting one of the essential nutrients that our body needs to function. One of these alternatives is the so-called “sea lettuce”.
Three times more efficient. A team of researchers has achieved a new, more efficient method to extract proteins from the algae known as sea lettuce. The new method is up to three times more efficient in obtaining these nutrients from the marine plant.
Sea lettuce. The algae used as a source of these proteins belongs to the species A windowed windowone of the species of the genus Ulvawhich includes sea lettuce. These marine plants owe their name to the appearance of some lettuces, with flat wavy and tangled leaves.
And partly also because it is part of the diet in different regions, especially in northern Europe and Asia. These algae can be consumed in salads, cooked or, as in this case, processed. In any of their preparations, they stand out for being plants high in protein.
Essential nutrients. Proteins, explains the team responsible for the new processing technique for these plants, are not the only nutrients for which sea owl stands out. These highs also contain omega-3 fatty acids.
It also stands out for its contribution of vitamin B12, a vitamin that is difficult to obtain from non-meat sources. This vitamin is used by our body to create red blood cells, so its deficiency can cause anemia.
The team also indicated their plans to look for ways to make these plants even richer in protein.
The new method. The problem when extracting the protein from these “lettuces” has to do with their solubility. These algae contain both water-soluble (water-soluble) and fat-soluble (fat-soluble) proteins, the team indicates.
The first step of the new method is to open the cell membrane of the marine plant to access the fat-soluble proteins. After this, high pH water (low acidity) is used to extract the various types of proteins. After this, the solution becomes acidic, which allows the proteins to precipitate, which facilitates their separation and conversion into an ingredient.
The team observed that this ingredient was also capable of enriching omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12. The team presented the details in an article in the magazine Food Chemistry.
Changes in consumption. Our eating habits are changing by leaps and bounds, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, but the truth is that we increasingly have a greater variety of nutritional alternatives. Products that seek to provide us with alternative proteins to meat are just one example of this.
“Humanity will need to find and combine the intake of more diverse protein sources than we have today, to achieve nutritional and sustainability requirements. Seaweed is a good addition to the many products already on the market. We need all these solutions and, until now, marine proteins, the so-called ‘blue proteins’, have been overlooked,” Ingrid Undeland, member of the team responsible for the study, indicated in a press release.
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