Nutritional Properties of Whey Proteins

Whey protein is one of the two major protein types of bovine milk, accounting for 20 percent of milk protein, while casein accounts for the remaining 80 percent. Human breast milk contains less methionine, phenylalanine, and lysine compared to bovine milk and more cysteine and tryptophan. Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are highly valued amino acids due to their high solubility in the digestive tract and therefore, faster rate of absorption compared to other proteins that require pre-digestion to remain soluble in the gut. The protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) is currently the most accepted and widely used method for measurement of the protein value in human nutrition as it takes into account true fecal digestibility of proteins. Clinical trials have shown that whey protein has beneficial effects in the treatment of cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and serves well as an antimicrobial agent.