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Educate your patients on the importance of 3-A-Day of Dairy: Here's
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every day for stronger bones.
Developed in conjunction with The American Academy of Family
Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Dietetic
Association, and The National Medical Association.
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Dairy Council Digest Archives
Health-Enhancing Properties of Dairy Ingredients
Summary
Recently, the potential use of dairy ingredients in a variety of food products to enhance health has captured the attention of food scientists, producers, marketers, and consumers. Several factors are contributing to this interest in dairy ingredients. These factors include recent discoveries of bioactive roles for dairy components, especially those derived from whey, advanced technologies that efficiently isolate dairy ingredients, and consumers' interest in foods that provide specific health benefits (i.e., functional foods).
Experimental animal and in vitro investigations have identified a number of potential health benefits for individual whey proteins such as the following:
- Beta-lactoglobulin, the most abundant protein in whey, binds retinol (provitamin A) and has been proposed to be a transport protein for retinol.
- Alpha-lactalbumin is used in infant formula to make it more similar to human milk. This whey protein has been demonstrated to have immune-enhancing activities and be useful in sports nutrition products due to its content of branched chain amino acids.
- Immunoglobulins contribute to the immune response, thereby providing protection against foodborne illnesses.
- Lactoferrin, an iron-binding whey protein, has multiple biological functions, including increasing iron absorption and transport, protecting against pathogenic bacteria and viruses, enhancing immunity, and stimulating the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria. Lactoferrin may also help to reduce ear infections in children. In some countries, this protein is added to infant formulas to make them more similar in protein composition to human milk.
- Lactoperoxidase, a secretory enzyme found in whey, is a natural antimicrobial agent with potential use in dental products to inhibit caries.
- Glycomacropeptide, a casein-derived protein found in cheese whey, stimulates cholecystokinin (a hormone regulating food intake), helps to reduce dental caries, and is beneficial for patients with phenylketonuria (PKU).
- Other whey components such as lactose derivatives and sphingolipids in whey lipid have health-promoting properties.
Identification of bioactive roles for specific whey ingredients lends support to their potential commercial application in functional food products. However, human clinical trials are needed to substantiate the biological activity of individual whey ingredients. With the current focus on biologically active nutritional components to promote health, opportunities for the use of dairy ingredients have never been better. Whey ingredients, especially proteins, would be particularly beneficial for infants, older adults, some patients, and athletes involved in intense activities.
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