Sustainable milk alternatives

Oat drinks are not just a good alternative for people with a lactose intolerance. The production of one litre requires considerably less energy, water, and agricultural land than one litre of cow’s milk. It also produces fewer greenhouse gases. Food technologist Dr. Theresia Heiden-Hecht and her team from the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS-4) use neutrons in their search for an even more sustainable milk substitute. They have their hopes pinned on sugar beet or alfalfa leaves. Unlike edible oat grains, they are a by-product of agriculture and are not intended for human consumption.

Nachhaltige Milch-Alternativen
Theresia Heiden-Hecht wants to use plant-based proteins – such as those found in alfalfa leaves – to enable the production of sustainable and healthy foods.
Copyright:
— Forschungszentrum Jülich/Astrid Eckert

Plant-based alternatives should be designed to closely resemble cow’s milk, which contains fats and water, the molecules of which do not mix. And yet the fats in milk do not separate from the water and they do not settle. Instead, they form microscopically small droplets that are finely distributed in the milk. The fact that these droplets do not merge – even over longer periods of time – is due to another milk component, the proteins. They stabilize the droplets where fat and water meet.

Before developing new plant-based drinks, we first need to understand how different plant proteins affect the stability of the droplet interfaces. Only then can we precisely tailor both the type and quantity of proteins used. “Neutrons are ideal for investigating these interfaces, not only in model systems but also in real milk substitutes,” says Heiden-Hecht. The researchers exploit the fact that neutrons can be used to selectively make certain areas of a sample visible while leaving others hidden. They achieve this by partially replacing hydrogen with deuterium, which scatters neutrons in a different way.

To investigate the type, structure, and shape of the proteins in the interfaces of the fat droplets, Heiden-Hecht’s team uses small-angle neutron scattering. Using advanced neutron spin echo spectrometry, the scientists can even track the movements of the proteins.

This text is taken from the 2/25 issue of effzett. Text: Frank Frick

Last Modified: 10.12.2025
effzett issue 2-25Neutron research