Designing soy protein amyloid fibrils-high methoxyl pectin composite gel as a potential dysphagia food: Focus on interaction exploration and delivery properties.

In this study, a composite gel system oriented by dysphagia diet was constructed by soy protein amyloid fibrils (SAF) crosslinking high methoxyl pectin (HMP). The interaction mode, structure and properties of composite gels at different pH values and composite ratios were investigated. Results showed that HMP enhanced the gel properties of SAF through non-covalent interaction and steric hindrance of its own polysaccharide chain. Among them, the network pores of the pH 7.0 group gel were smaller, and the structure was more uniform than those of pH 2.0 group gel. Moreover, the composite gel changed from protein-based to polysaccharide-based as the volume ratio of SAF and HMP decreased, and the size of the intermolecular interaction force and the three-dimensional network structure changed. In particular, pH 7.0-SAF-HMP-1:1 had the optimal water holding capacity (91.37 ± 2.14%), rheology, textural properties, and lubricating performance. pH 7.0-SAF-HMP-1:1 was classified as Level 5 according to the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative and can be considered as potential transition foods. Furthermore, when the curcumin was 3 mg/mL, it had the highest embedding rate (83.62 ± 1.27%), bioaccessibility (74.87 ± 0.82%), and stability. These studies provided a theoretical basis for the ideal gels for dysphagia and functional foods.