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Modification in milk fatty acids during processing to whey protein concentrate (813.11)
Author(s) -
Silva Luciana,
Quintanilla Andrew,
Espinosa Kristen,
Macha Aaron,
Wells Shawn,
Wildman Robert
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.813.11
Subject(s) - chemistry , food science , lactose , whey protein , linoleic acid , fatty acid , ingredient , butyric acid , biochemistry
Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) is used as an ingredient in many foods and is a desirable protein source in sports nutrition products. By and large WPC is produced from the whey fraction byproduct of cheese production called “sweet whey” and undergoes microfiltration to remove fat (whey cream) and ultrafiltration to remove much of the carbohydrate (primarily lactose) content. On a dry weight basis WPC approximates 80% protein, 5‐6% carbohydrate (mostly lactose) and 6‐8% lipids. While most of the attention is focused on the whey protein content, little attention is afforded to the unique and potential beneficial lipid fraction of WPC such as butyric acid and long chain fatty acids including omega‐3 and omega‐6 fatty acids. Moreover, little attention is provided to the effects of processing sweet whey to WPC on the resulting proportion of fatty acids in the reduced fat WPC. In this study, samples of sweet whey, whey cream and WPC from the same production lot were analyzed for fatty acid composition. The total fatty acid content of whey cream is 30.4% while WPC was 4.3%. Comparatively the proportion of butyric acid and other SCFA and MCFA were lower and longer chain PUFAs where higher in the WPC versus the whey cream. For instance, SCFAs butyric acid (4:0) and caproic acid (6:0) were 30.3% and 41.8% and MCFAs caprylic acid (8:0) and capric acid (10:0) were 65.6% and 65.4% concentration levels versus whey cream. Meanwhile, content of linoleic acid (18:2 n‐6) was assessed to be doubled versus whey cream (5.84% vs 2.84%). These findings are aligned with the notion that more of the relatively smaller lipid molecules would be removed during microfiltration while larger, more complex fatty acids would remain with the protein.