Modification of food macromolecules using dynamic high pressure microfluidization: A review

Over the past decades, dynamic high pressure microfluidization (DHPM) has been widely used in modification of biological macromolecules to overcome some inherent drawbacks. However, the studies related to the regularity and limitation of DHPM on modification of macromolecules have received inadequate attention. The present review provides an overview of DHPM technology and its effects on the structure and properties of protein/enzyme, non-starch polysaccharide, starch and dietary fiber, discusses the modification of macromolecules by DHPM combined with other methods, and further disserts the existing problems and future development of DHPM in the food field. The structure of many food macromolecules has been changed after DHPM treatment, leading to modulation of their functional properties. The changes in structure and functional properties may be influenced by pressure and number of passes of DHPM, the solvent, the macromolecule concentration, as well as molecular characteristics. In addition, DHPM combined with other methods exhibited some promising results, and DHPM as a pretreatment could enhance the modification efficiency of other methods. However, due to the small reaction chamber and low processing capacity of microfluidizer, the practical application of this technology in the field of food processing is limited, thus further improvement of microfluidizer is needed.