Rapid Fat Loss Diets

Saturday, January 17, 2009

About Whey Protein

By June Killengsly

Whey protein is a natural byproduct from enzyme and acid produced cheese making. Whey protein is a component of all mammalian milk. The percentage of protein in cow's milk is 3.75%. The total protein content is made up of 80% casein protein and 20% whey protein. During the cheese making process coagulation of the casein protein begins, this is the curd, and what's left is a liquid stream of whey.

Whey protein is a natural byproduct from enzyme and acid produced cheese making. Whey protein is a component of all mammalian milk. The percentage of protein in cow's milk is 3.75%. The total protein content is made up of 80% casein protein and 20% whey protein. During the cheese making process coagulation of the casein protein begins, this is the curd, and what's left is a liquid stream of whey.

Whey, in its raw liquid form, contains lactose, fat and cholesterol. So before spray drying if somebody consumed whey protein it also meant one would take in a significant amount of lactose and fat. Sometime in the mid-80's two processes were discovered that could concentrate the protein content of the liquid stream, then spray dried to remove the water. One was ion-exchange and the other was micro-filtration. Both these methods consisted of removing the non-protein components so they could be spray dried into a highly concentrated whey protein powder.

Two whey protein powders were named: Whey Protein Concentrate and Whey Protein Isolate. Whey Protein Concentrate has a protein content of about 80% and Whey Protein Isolate has a protein content of 90%. New technology developed in 2005 can now isolate whey protein in excess of 95%.Whey protein is a complete protein, which means it contains all the essential amino acids needed for muscle growth and repair from stressful events, i.e. resistance training, endurance training, life-stressors.

Whey is made up of many protein fractions. The main two are Beta-Lactoglobulin and Alpha-Lactalbumin. These two proteins alone make up 75% of the protein content in whey. Other protein fractions include Glycomacropeptide, Lactoferrin, Bovine Serum Albumin, Immunoglobulins, Lactoperoxidase, Lysozyme, Relaxin, Gamma-globulins, Lactollin and B-Microglobulin. However, new fractions will be discovered with the progression in new protein isolation techniques. - 17273

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