Functional properties of the Maillard reaction products of rice protein with sugar

The glycation of rice proteins with reducing sugars was investigated in an attempt to improve their solubility and functionality. Rice proteins isolated from a Chinese milled medium-grain rice were glycated with glucose, lactose, maltodextrin, or dextran in 2% aqueous dispersions. The sugar that provided the most improvement of the solubility, emulsification activity (EA) and emulsification stability (ES) of the Maillard reaction products was glucose. The optimum reaction conditions were at pH 11, 100 °C, and reaction time 15 min, which increased the solubility, EA and ES of rice protein from 20%, 0.46 and 11.1 to 92%, 0.64 and 18.2, respectively. Extending the reaction time beyond 15 min continued the development of latter-stage Maillard browning products without improvements in the functional properties of the Maillard reaction products. SEC–HPLC analysis with light scattering detection showed a decrease of the weight-averaged molecular weight from 500 to 100 K during the initial 15 min.