The main research areas are food flavor chemistry, flavor chemistry, and their applications. Focusing on the impact of new food gradients on flavor and health, our team conduct research on the physical and chemical properties and digestive properties of yeast protein. Ten compounds were identified by GC-MS and predicted to be potential flavor compounds of yeast protein. An in vivo study has found that yeast protein supplementation can promote the proliferation of beneficial intestinal bacteria and enhance the immune, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant capabilities of ileal tissue. The compound use of yeast protein with soy protein isolate and whey protein isolate can improve the absorption and utilization efficiency of protein. And yeast protein was compounded with different proportions of whey protein isolate, the apparent digestibility of protein is higher than that of the two proteins alone. Nine published/accepted articles, including seven SCI was funded by this project.
Yeast protein! Derived from brewing yeast, yeast protein is the product obtained after removing most of the cell wall, with a protein content of over 80%! Although compared to industries like automotive and internet, the term "technology" may not seem very related to food and beverages. But isn't this new protein source quite cool too?!