Soymilk offers a healthful mix of nutrients but lacks sufficient calcium compared to cow’s milk unless fortified. Natural soymilk contains only 200 mg calcium per liter, approximately one-sixth the amount found in cow’s milk. Fortification poses challenges due to calcium precipitation or coagulation within the soymilk matrix.
To address this issue, researchers at the University of Reading, Whiteknights, UK, studied various chelating agents’ effects on soymilk’s physicochemical properties and their capacity to prevent coagulation. The study involved pasteurization to examine property changes and heat’s impact on stability. Findings revealed that reducing ionic calcium and increasing pH minimized sediment formation and coagulation susceptibility. Trisodium citrate and sodium dihydrogen phosphate emerged as the most effective chelating agents, also reducing viscosity and particle size. Sodium hexametaphosphate showed limited effectiveness by reducing ionic calcium without significantly altering pH. The disodium salt of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid lowered soymilk pH and demonstrated no positive effects.
