Milk Protein
Milk Protein
Milk Protein
Protein milk
Milk protein
Proteins are an extremely important class of naturally
Occurring compounds that are essential to all life
processes.
They perform a variety of functions in living organisms
ranging from providing structure to reproduction.
Milk proteins represent one of the greatest
contributions of milk to human nutrition.
Proteins are polymers of amino acids. Only 20 different
amino acids occur, regularly in proteins.
They have the general structure:
NH
R-CH-cOOH
R represents the organic radical.
Each amino acid has a different radical and this affects the
properties of the acid.
The content and sequence of amino acids in a protein
therefore affect its properties.
Some proteins contain substances other than amino acids,
eg/ Lipoproteins contain fat and protein
Such proteins are called conjugated proteins:
Phosphoproteins: Phosphate is linkedchemically to these
proteins-examples include casein in milk and
phosphoproteins in egg yolk.
Lipoproteins: These combinations of lipid and protein are
excellent emulsifying agents. Lipoproteins are found in milk
and egg yolk.
Chromoproteins: These are proteins with a coloured
prosthetic group and include hemoglobin and myoglobin.
Casein
Casein was first separated from milk in 1830, by adding
acid to milk, thus establishing its existence as a distinct
protein. In 1895 the whey proteins were separated into
aCaseins (45-55%)
a-Lactalbumin
KCaseins (-15%) (2-5%)
Proteose
Peptones
(2-6%)
accounts for about 50% of the whey proteins, and has a high
heated milk
Other milk proteins
In addition to the major protein fractions outlined, milk contains
a number of enzymes. The main enzymes present are lipases,
which cause rancidity, particularly in homogenised milk, and