FrieslandCampina’s microparticulated whey protein is heat stable for medical nutrition

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FrieslandCampina Ingredients (Amersfoort, Netherlands) has launched Nutri Whey ProHeat, a heat-stable whey protein created for the medical nutrition market. The ingredient is produced using microparticulation technology, which makes the ingredient highly heat stable.

Traditionally, the company points out, whey proteins aren’t compatible with heat treatments, which irreversibly denature the whey proteins. As a result, most formulators turn to casein proteins when making liquid oral nutritional supplements because casein is more heat tolerant. By formulating with casein instead of whey, however, formulators miss out on whey’s higher leucine content, which is digested more quickly than casein’s leucine content, the company says. In general, whey’s higher leucine content results in faster and higher levels of blood plasma leucine and other essential acids, it says.

Whey has typically been challenging for makers of medical nutritional supplements to work with “as most whey proteins are irreversibly denatured and polymerized into aggregates or gels when heated to high temperatures—a process which is required for creating stable oral nutritional supplements,” the company’s press release states. However, the patent-pending microparticulation process FrieslandCampina Ingredients uses forms “small aggregates, ensuring the whey proteins’ stability under high-heat-treatment conditions,” the firm says.

“This means end products formulated with Nutri Whey ProHeat benefit from superior sensory properties such as a low viscosity and neutral pH alongside a clean taste from high-quality Dutch whey, which can support patient adherence while also giving patients access to the additional nutritional benefits of whey protein,” the firm says.

“Our latest ingredient innovation presents a big leap forward for medical nutrition and will enable manufacturers to provide patients with the unrivaled nutritional benefits of whey protein in an appealing, drinkable format,” added Vicky Davies, global senior marketing director of performance, active, and medical nutrition, in the company’s press release.