What is Whey Protein?
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. In years past, whey was viewed and used as a waste product and sprayed back onto farmer's crops to add nitrogen back into the soil.
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. In years past, whey was viewed and used as a waste product and sprayed back onto farmer's crops to add nitrogen back into the soil.
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.
DESIGNER WHEY® was first to present all the science and benefits of highly bioactive whey protein. They were also the first to do three clinical, university studies on DESIGNER WHEY® versus regular whey protein.
Author: Designer Whey @ Article Base
