ARS | Publication request: Health Benefits of Texturized Whey Proteins

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 15, 2009
Publication Date: May 4, 2009
Citation: Onwulata, C.I., Qi, P.X., Wu, D., Ren, Z., Pae, M., Pang, E., Meydani, S. 2009. Health Benefits of Texturized Whey Proteins. Meeting Abstract.

Technical Abstract: Whey proteins are an important class of food ingredients used in many functional foods to boost protein content. Using the extrusion texturization process to partially open the native globular structures of whey proteins changed their conformation to the molten globular state, resulting in a new class of whey protein ingredient. We studied the effect of extrusion moisture and temperature conditions on the protein compositional profile by PAGE electrophoresis, and the molecular structural and conformational changes by circular dichroism (CD), FTIR and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. Structural modification of the proteins showed approximately 15% loss of secondary structures below 50 deg C, and complete structural loss above 75 deg C. These superficial structural changes created texturized proteins with enhanced health benefits over the non modified whey proteins. Animal model studies show possible nutritional and health benefits. In studies with rats, increased protein digestibility and muscle mass were observed. In mice, it was determined that the loss of tertiary structures did not impair the ability of T cells to proliferate, but that the combination of the modified whey protein with a mixture of nutrients improved immune response significantly (p is less than 0.05).