Physicochemical Characterization of Biofield Energy Treated Hi VegTM Acid Hydrolysate

What is it about?

The hydrolysed vegetable proteins are acidic or enzymatic hydrolytic product of proteins derived from various sources such as milk, meat or vegetables. The current study was designed to evaluate the impact of biofield energy treatment on the various physicochemical and spectra properties of Hi VegTM acid hydrolysate i.e. a hydrolysed vegetable protein. The Hi VegTM acid hydrolysate sample was divided into two parts that served as control and treated sample. The treated sample was subjected to the biofield energy treatment and its properties were analysed using particle size analyser, X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area analyser, UV-visible and infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results of various parameters were compared with the control (untreated) part. The XRD data showed the decrease in crystallite size of treated sample from 110.27 nm (control) to 79.26 nm. The particle size was also reduced in treated sample as 162.13 µm as compared to the control sample (168.27 µm). Moreover, the surface area analysis revealed the 63.79% increase in the surface area of the biofield treated sample as compared to the control. The UV-Vis spectra of both samples i.e. control and treated showed the absorbance at same wavelength. However, the FT-IR spectroscopy revealed the shifting in peaks corresponding to N-H, C-H, C=O, C-N, and C-S functional groups in the treated sample with respect to the control. The thermal analysis also revealed the alteration in degradation pattern along with increase in onset temperature of degradation and maximum degradation temperature in the treated sample as compared to the control. The overall data showed the impact of biofield energy treatment on the physicochemical and spectroscopic properties of the treated sample of Hi VegTM acid hydrolysate. The biofield treated sample might show the improved solubility, wettability and thermal stability profile as compared to the control sample.

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Why is it important?

The protein hydrolysates are derived through the acid or enzymatic hydrolysis of the proteins. The protein molecules are hydrolysed and degraded into the small fragments by the cleavage of peptide bond, hence they are also termed as peptides or peptones [1]. The protein hydrolysate can be derived from various sources such as milk, casein, animal derived (meat, collage) and vegetable origin (wheat gluten, rice protein, pea protein, soy protein, etc.) [2]. The protein hydrolysates are used to improve the taste of food products. For example, soy and other vegetable proteins are used in the production of hydrolysed vegetable protein (HVP) that is commonly used in flavouring the meat products, sauces, and soups [3]. The hydrolysed vegetable protein is traditionally produced by acid hydrolysis using the hydrochloric acid (HCl). The process includes hydrolysing in 10-20% HCl at atmospheric or elevated pressure followed by neutralization with NaOH [4]. The reason behind use of HCl is that the process is fast with high product yield and high aromatic profile [5]. However, some problems might occur in this process such as partial destruction or loss of amino acids and toxic by-product formation [6]. The acid hydrolysate of proteins is available in the form of pastes, liquids, granules, or powders and mainly composed of amino acids, small peptides, and salts [7]. The main differences between the acid hydrolysed and enzyme hydrolysed product are the colour and aromatic flavour. The acid hydrolysed products possess strong aromatic flavour and dark brown in colour; whereas, the enzymatic products are much less meaty flavour and lighter in colour [8]. The hydrolysed vegetable proteins sometimes produced the flavours through the process of Maillard reaction and free amino acids and peptides are mainly responsible for the flavour production [9]. Beside, their use in food ingredients, some researches also reported their effect in increasing the plasma insulin response in case of both, the healthy subjects and type-II diabetes patients [10, 11]. The response was reported due to the impact of amino acids in the blood on alpha and beta pancreatic cells [12]. The literature reported the commercial use of hydrolysed vegetable protein directly by controlling the overall characteristics or after some processing [13, 14]. Besides, acid hydrolysis may reduce the reaction time but this process have many disadvantages as after hydrolysis the removal of residual acid is difficult and time consuming. In this work, the Hi VegTM acid hydrolysate i.e. a hydrolysed vegetable protein was given the biofield energy treatment and the impact on various physicochemical properties were analysed. The concept of biofield originates from the biological energy field that is produced from the physiological processes and thoughts of the human beings [15]. Moreover, the living organisms can exchange this energy from the environment to maintain their health [16]. It is also taken under the healing therapies and recently known for its impact in reducing the anxiety and pain related problems [17]. The practitioners of these therapies channel the energy from the environment and sent it towards certain object [18]. Hence, a human can harness the energy from the environment and send it to any living or non-living object. After absorbing this energy, the object will respond in a better way; this process is termed as the biofield energy treatment. Mr. Trivedi is also known for his unique biofield energy treatment (The Trivedi Effect®) thereby causing alterations in various plants [19], microbes [20], metals [21], organic products [22], etc. The main aim of this study was to subject the Hi VegTM acid hydrolysate with the biofield energy treatment and evaluate the impact on its properties using several analytical techniques, such as particle size analyser, x-ray diffraction, surface area analyser, UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis.

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