Work

Milk-lupin mixes and fermentation as levers for improving the nutritional and environmental performance of plant-based yoghurt substitutes

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Recommendations for sustainable diets agree on the need to reduce consumption of animal products, especially in wealthy countries. Legumes are expected to play a pivotal role in providing food protein substitutes in this context, but their adoption by consumers remains too slow to meet the sustainable development goals. Plant-based substitutes, such as yoghurt-like products, suffer from poorer sensory and nutritional properties than their dairy references. Milk-lupin blends with 67/33 or 50/50 w/w animal:plant protein ratios and fermentation with a Lactococcus lactis and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum co-culture were therefore proposed as a means to alleviate those issues. While milk-lupin blends significantly decreased the environmental burden of yoghurts, the protein digestibility of the milk-lupin blends exceeded 94% as assessed by in vitro digestion using the INFOGEST human adult protocol and analytical quantification of the total and bioaccessible individual amino acids. It even exceeded 97% after fermentation, which contributed more-than-additively to the release of peptides upon digestion. The calculated digestible indispensable amino acid scores (DIAAS) exceeded 100 in the fermented or non-fermented products regardless of the milk:lupin protein ratio. Meanwhile, the desirable supply of bioaccessible calcium and the undesirable environmental burden both increased with the animal:plant protein ratio, thereby evidencing that milk:legume blends are good compromises to address the counter-acting issues of dairy products and their plant-based substitutes.

Source: Future Foods

DOI: 10.1016/j.fufo.2026.101242