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Research Paper Protein Powder
Research Paper Protein Powder
Abstract
Background
Children are notorious picky eaters causing many of them to have a
variety of deficiencies, including protein deficiencies. Many may not like
supplemental protein vitamins or gummies because of the texture
differences, so for this experiment, protein powder is used to replace allpurpose flour to provide additional nutrients while hiding in a banana
pancake. Banana pancakes have that bread-like texture and carbohydrate
taste which children tend to be fond of along with a natural sweetness from
the banana.
Objective
This experiment is to test if protein powder is an adequate substitute
for all- purpose flour for protein pancakes to add additional nutrients.
Design
The independent variable is the all- purpose flour which is replaced
with protein powder. Dependent variable includes viscosity of the pancake
batter, fluffiness of the pancake, texture of the pancake, taste and flavor of
the pancake, and moisture of the pancake. Three formulas are made in this
experiment including the original recipe with containing all- purpose flour
(#216), the 75% all- purpose flour/25% protein powder recipe (#981), and
50% all- purpose flour/50% protein powder (#738). Subjective and objective
tests were conducted including a line spread tests to evaluate the viscosity
Results
Viscosity of the pancake batter, moisture, and texture were all
objectively tested and affected by the protein powder. The pancake batter
that was the moistest and had the least viscose batter was the 50% allpurpose flour/50% protein powder pancake while the 75% all-purpose
flour/25% protein powder pancake had the best most rise when cooking. The
control has the most viscous batter, had the least moisture in the wettability
tests, and rose the least in these experiments.
In subjective tests, 25 random participants taste tested the various
formulas using the smiley face likert scale with 52% of the participants liking
the 50% all-purpose flour/50% protein powder pancake, 8% liking the 75%
all-purpose flour/25% protein powder pancake, and 36% liking the control
recipe. There was an outlier of 4% who did not rank the pancakes.
Conclusion
Protein powder is an adequate all-purpose flour substitute in making
banana pancakes. The protein powder not only enhances the flavor of the
pancake with the subtle vanilla flavoring, but does not compromise the
texture of the pancake which is important for children with neophobia or who
are picky eaters. Neophobia is a fear of new foods.
Introduction
Review of Literature
Protein deficiency, especially in children, is majorly detrimental to their
growth. Comparatively to adults, childrens growth rate triples by the time
they are 1 and doubles at toddler age, this causes children to fall under a
nutritional diagnosis as failure to thrive. Failure to thrive are attributed to
many factors, one being inadequate calorie intake which may occur in picky
eaters (Nelms, Sucher, Lacey 2011). Because of their rapid growth, adequate
protein requirements need to be met. Children between the age of 0-3 years
old have a protein requirement of 1.52-0.95 g/kg of weight; this is
Method/Design
This experiment is designed to replace all-purpose flour for protein
powder to increase the nutritional density of banana pancakes while hiding
behind a bread-like texture aimed for children who are picky eaters.
Ingredients used were all-purpose flour/protein powder to create the
structure for banana pancakes, banana for flavoring, white sugar for
browning, sweetness and moisture, baking powder for leavening, eggs for
structure and color, milk to help gelatinize the starch in the all- purpose flour,
vegetable oil to create satiety and color, and salt to enhance flavors. Most
ingredients were obtained from the Miele Lab aside from the protein powder
and bananas. The protein powder used specifically for this project was
Market Pantry Vanilla Protein Powder. The recipe chosen was obtained by the
allrecipes.com website for its simplicity in ingredients, but modified. One
major modification in the recipe occurred in the processing of dry
Control Recipe
For the control recipe one cup of all-purpose flour was used, along with
one tablespoon of white sugar, two teaspoons of baking powder, teaspoon
of salt, one egg, one cup of milk, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, and two
ripe bananas. Dry ingredients including flour, white sugar, baking powder,
and salt was sifted together. Ripe bananas were mashed and combined with
one beaten egg, milk, and vegetable oil. Then the dry ingredients were
slowly incorporated into the wet ingredient to create a batter. To cook the
banana pancakes, butter was used to lubricate a non-stick frying pan. cup
of batter was added to the pan in medium to medium low heat until bubbles
were created via the cooking of the batter, then flipped. The cooking time
took about a few minutes for each pancake. The batter yielded ~12-15
pancakes. Heating of the pan and manipulation of the heat in the pan posed
a huge problem to obtain a golden brown coloring and making sure the
pancake was fully cooked. To look for a fully cooked pancake, tunneling must
be formed which also concludes there is structure formation.
Testing
Objective and subjective tests were conducted to the variable batches
of pancakes to test different dependent variables of the banana protein
pancakes. The three objective tests conducted were the line spread test,
wettability, height/length tests. For the line spread tests, cup of batter was
poured into a ring mold in the middle of the line sheet and released for the
set amount of time of a minute. Measurements were recorded on how far the
batter had spread in a minute. Wettability tests are performed to tests the
moisture of a product. The moister the product is, the more water it will
obtain. The test was conducted by weighing the pancake, submerging the
pancake in water for one minute, and weighing the pancake again after the
submersion. Conducting weight by difference helps determine the amount of
Height/Length Tests
Height
Length
0.3 mm
4 inches
Height/Length Tests
Height
Length
0.6 mm
4 inches
Height/Length Tests
Height
Length
0.6 mm
4.5 inches
Subjective Evaluation
During subjective evaluation, texture and taste were the main
components that swayed voters and the in house taste tests. As seen in the
75/25
Golden brown on
50/50
Flat and thin, lack of
Aroma
uniformity of
interior, big air
pockets present on
the inside, pale
cream color on the
inside, aeration
present
Mild, banana-bread
like smell
the outside
Mouthfee
l
Texture
Fluffy, moist,
squishy and tender
to the touch,
bounces back when
poked, shows
elasticity, clean and
pliable breaks, a
little sticky possibly
from the banana
Strong banana
flavor
Flavor
Balance of vanilla
and banana flavor
Most Favored
4%
36%
52%
8%
Control
75/25
50/50
Outlier
Figure 1: This graph shows which recipe is most favored with 13 participants choosing the 50/50
recipe, participants choosing the 75/25 recipe and 9 participants choosing the control recipe with 1
outlier.
Errors
Though the experiment was designed to be conducted with as little
errors as possible, afterthought of the process proved such experiment could
have been conducted better. One error that could have been fixed had to do
with the bananas used to make the pancakes. To make a more consistent
product, bananas of the same ripeness must be used. This could be done by
evaluating how yellow the banana is through a spectrometer which was not
provided. Another error is in the mashing on the bananas. Each banana was
hand mashed, which may have cause micro inconsistences between batches.
This could be avoided by using a food processor to puree the bananas
instead of mashing them. One error during tasting day was the delegation of
different batches. During most test days, one person had cooked all the
batches, but during tasting day (to save time) batches were split between
the three experimenters. Human error could have made the batches different
between test and tasting days. The last error outside the control of the
experimenters was the age of test subjects. Though the product was directed
towards toddlers and young children, many of the test subjects ages ranged
from 18-75 years old.
Conclusion
Overall, protein powder was an adequate substitute for all-purpose
flour to increase the protein intake without compromising the taste and
texture of a banana pancake too severely. This is proven by the objective
tests with the 50% all-purpose flour/50% protein powder pancake containing
Bibliography
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