What is Whey?

Whey is the milk proteins left over from the cheese-making process. Research continues to show that whey protein contains a variety of factors and compounds capable of improving health and preventing disease. As a component of milk, whey protein is a highly nutritious product that performs specific functions for enhancing the absorption of nutrients. Formerly regarded as a mere by-product of cheese and discarded as waste, whey protein has now firmly made its mark as a highly functional - and wholly natural - ingredient in its own right.
Healthywhey.org is a non-profit research and educational web site made possible by the California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF).

Whey Protein: A complete protein containing all essential and non-essential amino acids as well as the highest concentration of branched-chain amino acids found in nature. Whey is a component of all milks. It comprises 20% of the approximately 6.25% protein found in liquid cow's milk.

"Whey's potential has hardly been tapped," says Joe O'Donnell, exec dir of the California Dairy Research Foundation.

Now even business experts are predicting bigger things for whey protein. In the food business are forecasting major growth trends for this new "whey" of life. One expert in the food industry, Sloan Trends & Solutions Inc. have identified whey as cutting edge market and product opportunities. As more and more health conscious Americans look to functional foods to improve the way they look and feel, whey is destined to become the protein of choice for healthy active lifestyles.

Percentages and fractions add up to nutritional quality

As previously noted, whey accounts for 20% of the 6.25% protein found in cow's milk. (The other 80% is casein.) The fractional composition of whey's nitrogen-containing compounds varies depending upon the breed of cow, time of year, type of feed, and country of origin and lactation cycle of the particular bovine.

In terms of whey supplements, these variables add up to a wide-ranging diversity of protein fraction percentages and amino acid profiles ... and thus to a differing level of quality among products. (This difference is found between manufacturers; it should be emphasized, not among the products from each manufacturer. Each manufacturer maintains its own higher or lower standards of whey selection, based on cost, scientific acumen and other variables.) Additionally, the type and quality of processing the whey (filtering, ion-exchange, heat temperature, acids or enzymes) explain other variations.

Whey is composed of four main protein fractions and six minor protein fractions. Each has different molecular weights; each is critical in the support of a healthy metabolism. All of these proteins occur naturally in milk, having been synthesized by the cow. It is the precise ratios and amounts of these fractions that yield whey protein's extraordinary health-promoting properties.

Cancer & Whey

In recent laboratory studies, researchers compared the protective effects of whey protein against chemically induced tumors in the milk-producing glands of rats. They found that approximately 50 percent fewer rats had mammary tumors when fed a diet containing whey protein concentrate, as compared with rats eating a standard diet. Whey protein offered considerable protection to the host over that of other proteins, including soy.

Clinical studies with cancer patients have shown regression in tumors, when fed whey protein concentrate at 30 grams per day. A research study presented at the 1997 International Whey Protein Conference demonstrated that patients with breast cancer were able to withstand a more concentrated schedule of chemotherapy treatments because ingesting whey proteins enhanced their immune systems. This new information led researchers to a spectacular discovery regarding the relationship between cancerous cells, glutathione (GSH) and whey protein concentrate. The discovery showed that whey protein concentrate selectively depletes cancer cells of their glutathione, thus making them more susceptible to cancer treatments like radiation and chemotherapy.
Potential Anti-Cancer Activity of Milk & Milk Components - Ohio State

Children & Whey

Unique whey proteins have been found to be significantly useful for infants suffering from ailments like chronic diarrhea, allergies or colic. Pediatricians are prescribing whey protein hydrolysate-based milk formulas because of its ability to aid digestion and absorption of infants, less than six months of age, with gastrointestinal symptoms of cow milk and/or soy protein-based infant formula intolerance. Although using whey as an ingredient in infant formulas is not revolutionary, new research has uncovered techniques that can help manufacturers make infant formula more like human breast milk.

Simulating mother’s milk is an important consumer issue and the industry is responding to it. Certain proteins in cow’s milk are very much the same as in mother’s milk, but in different concentrations. Cow’s milk contains beta-lacto globulin. Human breast milk contains only negligible traces of it but contains higher concentrations of alpha-lactalbumin, and lactoferrin – proteins that play a role in infant nutrition. Researchers have discovered that eliminating beta-lacto globulin and retaining or adding alpha-latalbumin, infant formula is closer to human milk. Under the process known as fractionation, whey proteins are separated from each other and transformed into usable, isolated ingredients, such as alpha-lactalbumin, lactoferrin, and other concentrated proteins. By pulling out the fractions, manufacturers can blend them together to form a more appropriate composition.

Role of whey in health, including: