Properties And Applications Of Whey Proteins

The milk proteins that remain after the isoelectric precipitation of caseins are called whey proteins, accounting for around 20% of total bovine milk proteins.

- Veena N

The major components among whey proteins include β-lactoglobulin (β-LG), α-lactalbumin (α-LA), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and immunoglobulin (IG) having a corresponding concentration of 3.2 g/L, 1.2 g/L, 0.4 g/L and 0.7 g/L and represent a respective 50, 20, 10 and 10% of total whey protein fraction. The other minor constituents include lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, blood transferrin, and proteose-peptones. Whey proteins are globular proteins with well-defined secondary and tertiary structures. They are more heat sensitive and less calcium sensitive than caseins.

Whey proteins have a high biological value (100) and the highest concentration of branched chain amino acids from any natural food source. Being high quality proteins, they are extremely important with respect to digestibility, bioavailability, amino acid profile and biological value, besides functional properties and sensory characteristics. These proteins also possess favorable functional characteristics such as gelling, water binding, emulsification and foaming ability. Furthermore, the bioactive peptides of whey proteins origin are reported to possess physiological benefits leading to improvement in health and reduction in the risks of occurrence of diseases.