Phytate Removal from Soy Protein Isolates Using Ion Exchange Processing Treatments

A combination cation/anion exchange process was developed to remove 96–97% of the phytate and 97–99% of the Ca and Mg from soy protein isolates. Application of either of the ion exchange treatments alone failed to effectively remove phytate from soy protein extracts and also failed to convert the remaining phytate to a dialyzable form. Effective removal of phytate was only achieved by the combination ion exchange treatment. Consideration of these findings led to a proposed mechanism for the sequential disruption of the protein‐Ca/Mg‐phytate complex by the ion exchange treatment.