Shear and temperature sensitivity of a shear-thickening biopolymer from the New Zealand black tree fern

Mamaku polysaccharide (MP) is a water-soluble shear-thickening biopolymer that has shown potential to be used in the design of novel food products targeting satiety management and weight loss. During the processing of MP at industrial scale, the polymer may be exposed to high temperature and shear, which could affect its rheological behaviour. Thus, herein we subjected extracted MP to high shear (between 1000–8000 rpm at various times, using a lab-scale high-shear mixer) and temperature treatment (between 65 and 115 °C, for 30 min) and investigated the changes in molecular structure and rheological properties. The temperature treatment disintegrated the backbone of MP into smaller fragments (molecular weight-Mw, reduced from ∼3.9 × 106 Da with no heat, to ∼0.6 × 106 Da at 115 °C), which caused a reduction in viscosity and in the extent of shear-thickening as well as an increase in the damping factor (Gʹʹ/Gʹ). Similar rheological trends were observed post-shear treatment, however, there was no evidence of depolymerisation, with the Mw, constituent sugar composition and NMR spectra (1H and 13C) being unaffected. It is suggested that the changes in rheological behaviour after shear treatment could be due to changes in the re-arrangement of MP molecules, which led to a compact and folded structure due to increased intra-molecular interactions. The results, therefore, indicate that modification of MP molecules during the industrial process such as shearing and heating should be considered as it may adversely affect the rheological properties of the product where MP is incorporated and the expected physiological benefits in the gastrointestinal tract.