Abstract
Nutrition is undergoing a revolution owing to the recognition that some foods contain trophic, health-promoting factors distinct from essential nutrients. In this revolution, whey is increasingly being viewed as more than a source of proteins with a particularly nutritious composition of essential amino acids. Milk evolved under continuous Darwinian selection pressure to nourish mammalian neonates. Evolutionary pressure appears to have led to the elaboration of a complex food that contains proteins, peptides, complex lipids, and oligosaccharides that act as growth factors, toxin-binding factors, antimicrobial peptides, prebiotics, and immune regulatory factors within the mammalian intestine. Importantly, these trophic macromolecules are not essential, although the health benefits that their biological activities within the intestine provide likely contributed to neonatal survival. Human and bovine milks contain many homologous components, and bovine whey may prove to be a source for molecules capable of providing biological activities to humans when consumed as food ingredients. To approach this potential, food and nutrition research must move beyond the description of food ingredients as delivering only essential nutrients and develop a mechanistic understanding of the interactions between dietary components and the metabolic and physiological properties of the intestine.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 353-375 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2002 |
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Keywords
- Bioactive molecules
- Functional properties
- Lipids
- Proteins
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Food Science
Cite this
Whey components : Millennia of evolution create functionalities for mammalian nutrition: What we know and what we may be overlooking. / Walzem, R. L.; Dillard, C. J.; German, J. B.
In: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Vol. 42, No. 4, 08.2002, p. 353-375.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Whey components
T2 - Millennia of evolution create functionalities for mammalian nutrition: What we know and what we may be overlooking
AU - Walzem, R. L.
AU - Dillard, C. J.
AU - German, J. B.
PY - 2002/8
Y1 - 2002/8
N2 - Nutrition is undergoing a revolution owing to the recognition that some foods contain trophic, health-promoting factors distinct from essential nutrients. In this revolution, whey is increasingly being viewed as more than a source of proteins with a particularly nutritious composition of essential amino acids. Milk evolved under continuous Darwinian selection pressure to nourish mammalian neonates. Evolutionary pressure appears to have led to the elaboration of a complex food that contains proteins, peptides, complex lipids, and oligosaccharides that act as growth factors, toxin-binding factors, antimicrobial peptides, prebiotics, and immune regulatory factors within the mammalian intestine. Importantly, these trophic macromolecules are not essential, although the health benefits that their biological activities within the intestine provide likely contributed to neonatal survival. Human and bovine milks contain many homologous components, and bovine whey may prove to be a source for molecules capable of providing biological activities to humans when consumed as food ingredients. To approach this potential, food and nutrition research must move beyond the description of food ingredients as delivering only essential nutrients and develop a mechanistic understanding of the interactions between dietary components and the metabolic and physiological properties of the intestine.
AB - Nutrition is undergoing a revolution owing to the recognition that some foods contain trophic, health-promoting factors distinct from essential nutrients. In this revolution, whey is increasingly being viewed as more than a source of proteins with a particularly nutritious composition of essential amino acids. Milk evolved under continuous Darwinian selection pressure to nourish mammalian neonates. Evolutionary pressure appears to have led to the elaboration of a complex food that contains proteins, peptides, complex lipids, and oligosaccharides that act as growth factors, toxin-binding factors, antimicrobial peptides, prebiotics, and immune regulatory factors within the mammalian intestine. Importantly, these trophic macromolecules are not essential, although the health benefits that their biological activities within the intestine provide likely contributed to neonatal survival. Human and bovine milks contain many homologous components, and bovine whey may prove to be a source for molecules capable of providing biological activities to humans when consumed as food ingredients. To approach this potential, food and nutrition research must move beyond the description of food ingredients as delivering only essential nutrients and develop a mechanistic understanding of the interactions between dietary components and the metabolic and physiological properties of the intestine.
KW - Bioactive molecules
KW - Functional properties
KW - Lipids
KW - Proteins
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0036653591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10408690290825574
DO - 10.1080/10408690290825574
M3 - Article
C2 - 12180777
AN - SCOPUS:0036653591
VL - 42
SP - 353
EP - 375
JO - Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
JF - Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
SN - 1040-8398
IS - 4
ER -