molecules
Polyphenols and proteins: how to use them?
UMR STLO Unit
Research
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Polyphenols and proteins: how to use them?

When alpha-lactabumin meets polyphenols : insights into its interactions with the epigallocatechin gallate and procyanidin.

At STLO, we don't need to introduce you to proteins! But we're less familiar with polyphenols, a large family of organic molecules with complex properties. Mainly of plant origin, polyphenols provide defense, coloring and reinforcing functions for plants and their fruit. Useful in plants, interactions between polyphenols and proteins can be detrimental in foods, causing astringency through interaction between dietary polyphenols and salivary proteins, for example, or altering digestibility.

Polyphenols and proteins are nutrients that benefit the health of the consumer. These two classes are particularly abundant in plants such as legumes, like faba bean, the “star” species of the LETSPROSEED project coordinated by UMR Agroécologie in Dijon. The STLO and BIA units are taking part in this project, notably through the co-supervision of Amadou Adama Coulibaly's doctoral project. His aim is to describe the interactions between polyphenols and proteins during food production and digestion, in order to understand the positive or negative effects of these interactions on these two processes, and ultimately to maximize the beneficial effects for the consumer.

During the first months of his project, Amadou worked on binary systems of polyphenols and a model protein to identify the key factors determining the intensity of polyphenol-protein interactions. He observed that :

    The structure of the polyphenol significantly impacts the intensity of the interaction (or affinity),
 The association between polyphenol and protein causes precipitation of the protein solution,
 And this phenomenon increases with the polyphenol : protein ratio.

These initial results have been selected for an oral presentation at the 32nd International Conference on Polyphenols, to be held in July in Turku (Finland - https://icp2025turku.utu.fi/ ). Congratulations on this first valorisation.

deepwell with differents turbidity
Turbidity of the polyphenol/α-lactabumin mixture at different protein concentrations and increasing polyphenol ratios © STLO

CONTACT

 amadou-adama.coulibaly@inrae.fr

martine.morzel@inrae.fr

sylvain.guyot@inrae.fr

Modification date: 22 May 2025 | Publication date: 22 May 2025 | By: STLO M. Morzel