High Intensity Ultrasound (HIUS) can induce modification of the protein structure. The combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and ultrasound is an interesting strategy to improve the release of the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides. In this study, whey proteins were pretreated with HIUS at two levels of amplitude (30 and 50%) for 10 min, followed by hydrolysis using the vegetable protease bromelain. The hydrolysates obtained were ultrafiltrated and their fractions were submitted to a simulated gastrointestinal digestion. The conformational changes induced by HIUS on whey proteins were analyzed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy by attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and intrinsic spectroscopy. It was found that both levels of ultrasound pretreatment significantly decreased the IC₅₀ value (50% Inhibitory Concentration) of the hydrolysates in comparison with the control (α = 0.05). After this treatment, HIUS-treated fractions were shown as smaller in size and fractions between 1 and 3 kDa displayed the highest ACE inhibition activity. HIUS promoted significant changes in whey protein structure, inducing, unfolding, and aggregation, decreasing the content of α-helix, and increasing β-sheets structures. These findings prove that ultrasound treatment before enzymatic hydrolysis is an innovative and useful strategy that modifies the peptide profile of whey protein hydrolysates and enhances the production of ACE inhibitory peptides.

Uno de los grandes problemas que enfrenta la sociedad actual, es la enorme cantidad de desechos que se generan en la industria agroalimentaria. Estos subproductos, que aún poseen compuestos potencialmente útiles, pueden representar una nueva fuente de recursos renovables para su uso como aditivos alimentarios. Lo anterior, puede permitir establecer iniciativas de desarrollo sostenible para mitigar problemas ambientales, y al mismo tiempo, desarrollar productos con un valor nutricional mejorado. Recientemente, se ha buscado incluir ingredientes y conservadores más naturales en la producción de alimentos. Es en la industria cárnica, donde se tiene especialmente un problema de descomposición y oxidación de los productos. El objetivo del presente artículo de divulgación es dar a conocer el trabajo que, desde la ciencia de los alimentos, se hace por mejorar el procesamiento y la calidad de los productos cárnicos, a través del uso de subproductos.