Rotational chamber cold plasma: A novel approach to enhance the nutritional and antioxidant value of golden milk

Golden milk (GM), a turmeric-based functional beverage, is renowned for its health-promoting properties, largely due to curcumin and other phenolic compounds. In this study, the effect of rotational chamber cold plasma (RCCP) treatment (5, 10 and 15 minutes) on the physicochemical properties of key bioactive compounds in GM formulations prepared separately with A1 and A2 milks and containing turmeric, black pepper and ginger was evaluated using an in vitro digestion model. Results showed that RCCP significantly increased total phenolic content (TPC), particularly in A2 milk, reaching 296.0 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 mL in the intestinal phase. Antioxidant capacity also improved, with DPPH values in A2 milk increasing from 197.34 to 291.48 mg Trolox equivalents (TE)/100 mL after treatment. A1 milk demonstrated an increase in protein content (from 11.34 to 19.11 mg bovine serum albumin (BSA)/100 mL), while A2 milk exhibited a decrease (12.49 mg BSA/100 mL). Furthermore, structural analysis findings, including FT-IR, color analysis, and molecular docking clearly show that RCCP application induces controlled structural changes in GM components and has the potential to improve functional quality.