Abstract: Soymilk has become an important form of human consumption of soybean because of its nutritional richness and that the fact it contains many functional factors. Heat processing plays a crucial role in the processing of soymilk. Different degrees of heat treatment will cause different degrees of denaturation of soybean proteins in soymilk, thereby affecting the quality and properties of soymilk products. This paper reviews recent studies on the effects of different heat treatment conditions during soymilk processing on the structure, composition and gel properties of soybean proteins, as well as the effects of the interaction of calcium, magnesium, phytate and fat with soybean proteins on the dissociation-association behavior of a soymilk system. Additionally, an outlook on the future of soymilk and soymilk products as well as other related fields is presented. We expect that this review will provide a reference for the development of the soymilk processing industry in China.

Key words: soymilk; soy protein; heat treatment; gelling properties; phytic acid; fat