The trend of an initial increase and subsequent decrease in gel
strength with increasing degree of intermolecular association and
aggregation was reported for other polysaccharides when mixed
with whey proteins. de Jong and van de Velde (2007) measured the
fracture properties of a range of microstructures created by acid
induced cold gelation of whey proteins with several polysaccharides.
They observed an increase in fracture stress of mixed
gels accompanied by a shift in microstructure from homogenous to
protein continuous and bicontinuous networks. At polysaccharide
concentrations causing a network inversion into a polysaccharide
continuous structure, the gels were no longer self-supporting. We
were able to create self-supporting gels even after the network
inversion because the active filler protein concentration in the
polysaccharide continuous gels was considerably higher than the
concentrations used in cold-set gels (de Jong & van de Velde, 2007).