Effect of heating and ionic strength on the interaction of bovine serum albumin and the antinutrients tannic and phytic acids, and its influence on in vitro protein digestibility

Bioavailability of food nutrients can be reduced in the presence of antinutrients such as phytates and tannins. This work aimed to study bovine serum albumin binding to phytic acid and tannic acid, and its influence on in vitro protein digestibility. The effect of autoclaving and boiling on protein digestibility and the microstructure of complexes was also evaluated. Results showed that high ionic strength promotes greater affinity between tannic acid and bovine serum albumin, and decreases in vitro protein digestibility. For phytic acid and bovine serum albumin, the opposite behavior is observed because interactions are governed by electrostatic forces. A rise in temperature above that causing denaturation of the protein favors its interaction with phytic acid, and disfavors that with tannic acid, probably due to different protein binding site exposure. For both antinutrients, heating treatment increased protein hydrolysis, the size of complexes and their fragility.