CN116725117A

CN116725117A - Whey protein composition

Info

Publication number: CN116725117A
Application number: CN202310771304.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 闫尊浩; 张永久; 潘健存; 李转羽; 朱敏; 陆思宇
Original assignee: Feihe Harbin Dairy Co ltd; Feihe Jilin Dairy Co ltd; Feihe Longjiang Dairy Co ltd; Feihe Tailai Dairy Products Co ltd; Heilongjiang Feihe Dairy Co Ltd
Current assignee: Feihe Harbin Dairy Co ltd; Feihe Jilin Dairy Co ltd; Feihe Longjiang Dairy Co ltd; Feihe Tailai Dairy Products Co ltd; Heilongjiang Feihe Dairy Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-06-27
Filing date: 2023-06-27
Publication date: 2023-09-12

Abstract

The invention relates to a whey protein composition, which is derived from degradation products formed by at least partial degradation of whey protein, wherein the protein components in the protein composition have the following molecular weight distribution conditions: (i) The content of the protein component having a molecular weight of 2000Da or less is 70 mass% or more; the content is the content of the protein component in the condition (i) in terms of dry weight, accounting for the total protein component in the protein composition, and the content of the protein component in the protein composition in terms of dry weight is more than 8 mass% of the total dry matter of the protein composition. The formula dairy product prepared based on the whey protein composition has good sensory characteristics, is rich in high-quality protein of high-quality small molecular peptides, and has the effects of promoting blood pressure health of a human body and/or relieving oxidative aging.

Description

Whey protein composition

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of foods, relates to a whey protein composition with specific degradation component composition, a preparation method and application thereof, and in particular relates to hydrolyzed whey protein rich in small molecule peptides, and a preparation method and application thereof.

Background

Whey protein is often used as a high-quality protein supplement for humans, and is known by the name "protein king". However, since whey protein is a macromolecular protein, it is required to hydrolyze into short peptides in the intestinal tract and then can be absorbed, and is sensitive to heat and acid, thus limiting the application in foods.

In recent years, a plurality of researches have proved that a plurality of small molecule peptides not only provide nutrient substances required for the growth and development of human bodies, but also have the potential abilities of reducing blood pressure, enhancing organism immunity, reducing cholesterol, improving substance metabolism and the like. For example:

some polypeptides derived from whey proteins having a molecular weight of 100 to 2800Da are found in cited document 1 to have a strong free radical scavenging ability;

citation 2 discloses a small molecule calcium chelate peptide having a molecular weight of 1.4 to 3.4kDa which is isolated from whey protein hydrolysate and can promote calcium absorption, inhibit calcium phosphate formation and prevent bone diseases.

Some small molecular weight angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors derived from whey protein were obtained in cited document 3, and the inhibition rate of these inhibitors was found to be 96%, with higher antihypertensive activity. In addition, the moderately hydrolyzed whey protein rich in small molecular peptides with the molecular weight less than or equal to 3000Da has lower osmotic pressure, can reduce adverse reactions of gastrointestinal tracts, is easy to digest and absorb, and is an optimal protein supplementing source for the elderly with deteriorated chewing and digestion and absorption capabilities.

Additional studies have focused on the problem of inhibiting the undesirable flavor of whey protein after hydrolysis, which can generally be accomplished by appropriate hydrolysis and selection of appropriate enzymes, such as:

Reference 4 discloses a method for hydrolyzing whey protein by enzyme and a hydrolysate thereof, wherein the content of oligopeptide with the molecular weight of 180-1000 Da in the hydrolysate is more than or equal to 50%, the bitterness is low, the antigenicity is low, and the applicability and the efficacy of the hydrolysate are not described.

Reference 5 discloses a partially hydrolyzed whey protein powder and a method for preparing the same, wherein the protein powder contains at least 65% of components with molecular weight distribution below 2000Da, and the hydrolysis rate of beta-lactoglobulin in the protein powder reaches more than 60%.

Although the prior art has conducted the above-mentioned studies on the nutrition, absorbability, taste and the like of whey protein, the studies on the functionality and the like of hydrolyzed whey protein are still insufficient and there is still room for further improvement.

Citation literature:

citation 1: peng XY, xiong YL, kong B.Antioxidant activity of peptide fractions from whey protein hydrolysates asmeasured by electron spin resonance [ J ]. Food Chem 2009,113 (1): 196-201

Citation 2: xu Ri.Calcium binding of peptides derived from enzymatic hydrolysates of whey protein concentrate [ J ]. Int J Dairy Technol,2009,62 (2): 170-173

Citation 3: hondrigiannis E, peterson K, zapf C M, et al, the use of wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence and discriminant analysis in the identification of the elemental composition of cumin samples and the determination of the country of origin [ J ]. Food Chemistry,2012 (4): 2825-2 831

Citation 4: CN101785521A

Citation 5: CN107136295A

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

As mentioned above, whey protein is a high quality protein, and because macromolecular proteins are required to be hydrolyzed into short peptides in the intestine before they can be absorbed, high temperature processing during processing of the formula can cause denaturation, affecting the reconstitution solubility of the product. Especially for middle-aged and elderly people, the digestion and absorption capacity of protein is reduced due to the increase of age, so that the ingestion of a large amount of macromolecular protein can not realize good digestion and absorption, and the aim of supplementing a large amount of high-quality protein can not be achieved. Thus, it is generally possible to increase the human absorption of whey proteins and to improve the flushability of dairy products containing the whey protein component by providing a degree of hydrolysis of the whey proteins.

It is also known that, for the hydrolyzed whey protein component, the occurrence of bad flavors such as bitterness due to new amino end groups occurring during the hydrolysis process, for example, the strict control of the degree of hydrolysis of commercially available whey protein powder, leading to a product having a remarkable bitter taste and less desirable organoleptic properties, affecting the consumer experience, and thus, researchers have tried to properly control the degree of hydrolysis (and selection of enzymes) and proved that it can effectively suppress bad mouthfeel.

However, in some applications, good absorbency and solubility are desired, while good mouthfeel is controlled, which is a degree of contradiction in terms of degree of hydrolysis coordination.

Further, some studies have been made on the efficacy of specific short-chain peptides derived from whey proteins, for example, cited documents 1 to 3, but these documents are currently limited to studies on the characteristics of specific kinds of protein peptides in the enzymatic hydrolysate, and no direct guidance is given on how to obtain such protein peptides in a rich content. At present, the content of small molecule peptide does not have good selectivity in the application of final products.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide whey protein compositions having a suitable degree of degradation which, while ensuring good brewing and absorption, may also have an inhibitory effect on the undesirable flavor (especially in combination with the use of specific endo/exoenzymes), and it has also been determined that the above-mentioned degraded whey protein compositions of the present invention have enriched peptide chains of specific structure/activity which have a remarkable blood pressure-promoting and antioxidant effect in the human body, while also having a certain lipid-regulating and anticancer effect.

Furthermore, the invention also aims to further provide a preparation method of the degraded whey protein and a dairy product containing the degraded whey protein.

In addition, the invention also aims to provide a new application, namely the application of the degraded whey protein or the dairy product containing the degraded whey protein in maintaining or promoting the blood pressure health of human bodies, especially middle-aged and elderly people and resisting oxidation and aging.

Solution for solving the problem

The present invention is considered to solve the above technical problems by implementing the following technical scheme:

[1] the present invention provides, in a first aspect, a protein composition based on whey protein, wherein the protein composition is derived from degradation products formed by at least partial degradation of whey protein,

wherein the protein component in the protein composition has the following molecular weight distribution:

(i) The content of the protein component having a molecular weight of 2000Da or less is 70 mass% or more;

the content is the content of protein component in component (i) in dry weight based on total protein component in the protein composition,

and the content of the protein component in the protein composition is 8 mass% or more of the total mass of the dry matter of the protein composition on a dry weight basis.

[2] The protein composition according to [1], wherein the degradation is enzymatic hydrolysis performed in the presence of water and an enzyme.

[3] The protein composition according to [2], wherein the enzyme comprises a combination of endo-protease and exo-protease.

[4] The protein composition according to any one of [1] to [3], wherein the protein composition is present in a solution, slurry or solid form.

[5] The protein composition according to any one of [1] to [4], wherein the protein composition further comprises a carbohydrate component and optionally one or more of a fat component and an inorganic salt, and the content of the carbohydrate is 90 mass% or less of the total mass of the dry matter of the protein composition on a dry weight basis.

[6] Further, the present invention also provides a process for producing a hydrolyzed whey protein liquid according to any one of the above [1] to [5], wherein the process comprises:

a step of dissolving whey protein raw material in preheated water at 45-55 ℃ and a step of enzymolysis;

the whey protein raw material is one or more selected from desalted whey protein, concentrated whey protein and separated whey protein.

[7] Furthermore, the present invention also provides a formula dairy product, wherein the dairy product comprises:

(A) The protein composition according to any one of [1] to [5], and in addition thereto one or more of the following additional components:

(B) A functional protein component, (C) a carbohydrate component, (D) an oil component, (E) a mineral salt component, (F) other nutritional supplement components,

and, the protein component having a molecular weight of 2000Da or less in the dairy product accounts for 30 mass% or more of the total protein component on a dry weight basis.

[8] The dairy product according to [7], wherein the (C) carbohydrate ingredient comprises lactose; the (F) nutritional supplement ingredients comprise one or more of vitamins and probiotics.

[9] The dairy product according to [7] or [8], wherein the dairy product is an aged formula milk powder product.

[10] The invention further provides an application of the protein composition according to any one of the above [1] to [5] or the dairy product according to any one of the above [7] to [9] in promoting blood pressure health and/or relieving oxidative aging of a human body.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

By implementing the technical scheme, the invention can obtain the following technical effects:

(1) The invention can obtain good solubility and inhibit bad taste by controlling the degradation degree of the degradation whey protein under the condition of having the composition of specific protein components, and also unexpectedly discovers that the degradation whey protein is enriched with peptide chains with the characteristics of promoting human blood pressure and resisting oxidation and aging, and also has certain effects of regulating blood fat and inhibiting cancer cells.

(2) The hydrolyzed whey protein can be easily added into the production process of the formula milk product in the form of protein liquid, and the obtained formula milk powder and other milk products have excellent brewing property and good mouthfeel.

(3) In some preferred embodiments, the invention adopts compound endo-and exo-proteases for enzymolysis, and can obtain hydrolysate rich in small molecule peptides under mild hydrolysis conditions, thereby improving the solubility and efficacy of hydrolyzed whey protein and simultaneously taking into account the organoleptic properties of hydrolyzed whey protein.

(4) The moderately degraded whey protein prepared by the invention and the formula dairy product using the moderately degraded whey protein are rich in active peptides with blood pressure reducing and antioxidant properties, and are more beneficial to the high-efficiency supplement of high-quality protein and physical health of middle-aged and elderly people.

Drawings

Fig. 1: a molecular weight profile of the hydrolyzed whey protein solution;

fig. 2: comparison of the clumps after sinking of milk powder.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments, features and aspects of the invention are described in detail below. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a better understanding of the invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details.

Unless otherwise indicated, all units used in this specification are units of international standard, and numerical values, ranges of values, etc. appearing in the present invention are understood to include systematic errors unavoidable in industrial production.

In the present specification, the meaning of "can" includes both the meaning of performing a certain process and the meaning of not performing a certain process.

In the present specification, the numerical range indicated by the term "numerical value a to numerical value B" means a range including the end point numerical value A, B.

In the present invention, a numerical range indicated by "above" or "below" is a numerical range including the present number.

In the present invention, the use of "optionally" or "optionally" means that certain substances, components, steps performed, conditions applied, etc. are used or not used.

In the present invention, "Da" is used to denote the unit "Dalton" of molecular weight, i.e. "daltons".

In the present invention, unless otherwise specified, "normal temperature" as used herein refers generally to a temperature of 23.+ -. 2 ℃.

In the present invention, "%" used means weight or mass% unless otherwise specified.

In the present invention, a mixed system of powdered milk and water is used as a "solution", which may be a substantially microemulsion system.

In the present specification, the use of "infant" means a group of humans aged 3 years or less.

In this specification, for convenience of expression for fatty acid glycerides, the following characters are used to refer to different kinds of fatty acids:

ca: capric acid (C10:0); la: lauric acid (C12:0); m: myristic acid (C14:0); p: palmitic acid (C16:0); s: stearic acid (C18:0); o: oleic acid (C18:1); l: linoleic acid (C18:2); ln: linolenic acid (C18:3);

in this specification, for a specific fatty acid ester, a parallel combination of the above characters is used to indicate the kind of fatty acid glyceride, wherein the letter or letter combination in the middle indicates the fatty acid in the 2-position of glycerin. Specific examples are:

OPO is used to represent 1, 3-dioleoyl-2-palmitoyl triglyceride; using OPL representation: 1-oleic acid-2-palmitic acid-3-linoleic acid triglyceride;

In this specification, the terms "substantially", "essentially" may mean: one value includes the standard deviation of the error of the device or method used to determine the value. The numerical ranges and parameters set forth herein are approximations that may vary depending upon the particular application. However, any numerical value inherently contains certain standard deviations found in their respective testing apparatus or methods.

Reference in the present disclosure to "some specific/preferred embodiments," "other specific/preferred embodiments," "an embodiment," etc., means that a particular element (e.g., feature, structure, property, and/or characteristic) described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment described herein, and may or may not be present in other embodiments. In addition, it is to be understood that the elements may be combined in any suitable manner in the various embodiments.

The invention provides hydrolyzed whey protein liquid rich in small molecule peptide, which has better solubility, absorbability, organoleptic property and efficacy, and further provides a formula dairy product based on the hydrolyzed whey protein, which has better brewing property, organoleptic property and is rich in high-quality protein. The invention is mainly obtained by the following findings:

The whey protein is macromolecular protein, and can be absorbed after being hydrolyzed into short peptide in intestinal tracts, so that the aim of supplementing a large amount of high-quality protein for old people with reduced protein digestion and absorption capacity can not be achieved, the whey protein is degraded into peptide and amino acid by enzymolysis and other methods in the prior art, the micromolecular peptide and amino acid generated by hydrolyzing the whey protein can generate obvious bitter taste, the sensory characteristics of the product are not ideal, and the consumer experience is influenced, so that balance is difficult to achieve in the aspects of organoleptic and absorption. Through the research of the invention, it has been unexpectedly found that by adjusting the degradation degree of whey protein so that the molecular weight of the protein (peptide) is distributed in a proper range, not only can good absorbability be obtained and the inhibition effect on bad taste be achieved, but also more importantly, peptide chain components for promoting the blood pressure health and resisting oxidation and aging of human bodies are enriched in the obtained degradation product. Therefore, high-quality protein with small molecules easy to absorb and certain efficacy can be obtained, so that the balance of organoleptic property, absorbability and specific functionality is achieved.

< first aspect >

In a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a whey protein-based protein composition derived from degradation products formed by at least partial degradation of whey protein, whereby at least part of the protein composition contains components that degrade whey protein.

Further, it is important that the protein component of the protein composition has the following molecular weight distribution:

the content is the content of the protein component in the condition (i) in terms of dry weight, accounting for the total protein component in the protein composition, and the content of the protein component in the protein composition in terms of dry weight is 8 mass% or more of the total dry matter mass of the protein composition.

It has been verified that in whey protein-based protein compositions meeting this compositional profile, it may also be enriched with peptide components having Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibiting and antioxidant effects.

(whey protein raw material)

The whey protein source in the present invention is not particularly limited in principle, and may be, for example, whey proteins derived from various animal milks, such as cow milk, sheep milk, horse milk, camel milk, etc., preferably, cow milk.

Further, there is no particular limitation on the method of separating or purifying whey from the animal milk, and in some specific embodiments, the separation or purification means includes a degreasing treatment to separate the fat component from the animal milk raw material. The degreasing method is not particularly limited in principle, and may be performed by a method such as centrifugation. At least 90 mass% or more, preferably 92 mass% or more, and more preferably 95 mass% or more of the fat and oil is separated by the degreasing treatment based on the total fat and oil of the animal milk raw material.

In some specific embodiments, the above-described separation or purification further comprises separating the protein from the raw milk (which has been subjected to a degreasing treatment). For protein separation, mainly casein is separated. The method for separating casein is not particularly limited. For example, the separation (acid whey) may be carried out by adjusting the pH of raw milk, and by adding an acidic substance to cause casein to undergo coagulation and precipitation in the vicinity of its isoelectric point; alternatively, the whey component (sweet whey) is separated while cheese is being formed by optionally adding components such as a coagulant and a starter to the raw milk. In addition, in other specific embodiments, the whey protein raw material of the invention having various components can be obtained by intercepting and separating protein components having different molecular weights by means of membrane filtration through a filter membrane having a suitable pore size.

More specifically, the step of separating whey protein may include, for example, a step of desalting and concentrating. That is, the whey protein-enriched fraction may be desalted and optionally concentrated after defatting and protein separation. The desalting treatment is not particularly limited in principle, and may be performed by membrane filtration (nanofiltration (NF) and/or electrodialysis), for example. In some preferred embodiments, 70 mass% or more, preferably 80 mass% or more, more preferably 90 mass% or more of the inorganic salt may be removed by the desalting treatment. For the concentration step, which may be carried out simultaneously with or after desalting, ultrafiltration, washing or reverse osmosis may typically be used to obtain, for example, a whey protein material having a higher protein content.

For the whey protein-containing components obtained by the above possible individual process treatments, whey protein solids may be further obtained by drying, typically spray drying or the like may be used to obtain solid whey protein powder.

In addition, the whey protein raw material of the present invention may be self-prepared by the above-described method, or may be purchased commercially, for example, various commercially available raw materials with high whey protein content such as concentrated whey protein powder, isolated whey protein powder, whey protein liquid, etc. Preferably, the whey protein raw material of the invention may use isolated whey protein.

The content of whey protein in the whey protein raw material of the present invention is not particularly limited, and is related to the above-described production method for obtaining the whey protein raw material, and in some specific embodiments, the whey protein content in the whey protein raw material (e.g., total dry weight in the whey protein raw material) may be 8 mass% or more, preferably 10 to 90 mass%, for example 11 to 80 mass%, 12 to 70 mass%, 15 mass%, 18 mass%, 20 mass%, 25 mass%, 30 mass%, 35 mass%, 40 mass%, 45 mass%, 50 mass%, 55 mass%, 60 mass%, etc., on a dry weight basis.

Further, the whey protein raw material of the present invention may optionally contain one or more of a carbohydrate, an oil component, an inorganic salt, and the like in addition to whey protein. For carbohydrates, polysaccharides, such as lactose or dietary fiber, etc., may be included. In some specific embodiments, the (dry) content of the carbohydrate is 90 mass% or less, preferably 80 mass% or less, for example, may be 8 to 70 mass%, 10 to 60 mass%, 20 to 50 mass%, 30 to 40 mass%, etc., based on the total dry weight of the whey protein raw material, depending on the purification method of the whey protein.

In addition, the whey protein material of the present invention may be an intact protein material which has not been subjected to degradation treatment at all, or may be a whey protein material which has been subjected to partial degradation treatment, but may still continue to be subjected to degradation as described below to achieve the desired composition of the present invention.

(whey protein degradation product)

The whey protein degradation product of the invention can be obtained by hydrolysis of the whey protein raw material, and preferably, the above hydrolysis can be performed in the presence of an enzyme.

There are in principle no particular restrictions on the enzymes that can be used in the present invention, and in some specific embodiments of the present invention these enzymes may be selected from one or more of a variety of endo-or exo-proteases. As endoproteases which can be used in the present invention, there may be mentioned one or more of papain, alkaline protease, trypsin, pepsin, acid protease, neutral protease, and complex protease; for exoproteases that may be used, one or more of the protein deamidases, flavourzyme, aminopeptidase, carboxypeptidase, and the like are included in some specific embodiments. These enzymes are commercially available, for example, from Norwestine, tianye, dissman, etc.

From the viewpoint of hydrolysis efficiency and avoiding or suppressing bad taste (bitterness, etc.) due to exposure of terminal amine groups, etc., the enzyme usable in the present invention may be a complex enzyme comprising an endoprotease and an exoprotease, more preferably, the complex enzyme may be a complex enzyme as described above as an endoprotease in combination with a flavourzyme as an exoprotease to form a complex enzyme. For the amount of complexing in the complexing enzyme, in some preferred embodiments, the mass ratio of endo-protease to exo-protease may be 1.5-2:2.5-3.5.

Further, the total amount of the above (compound) enzymes is not particularly limited in principle, and may be determined according to the conventional amounts corresponding to the characteristics of each enzyme in the art. In some preferred embodiments, the total amount of enzyme may be used in terms of 1 to 3 mass% of the whey protein mass (dry weight), for example 1.6 to 2.5 mass%, etc.

In addition, other conditions for the above degradation are not particularly limited in principle, and for example, the whey protein raw material may be allowed to form a whey protein solution with the addition of an appropriate amount of water (and enzyme), and optionally, a buffering component may be used to adjust the pH of the whey protein solution depending on the conditions of the enzyme or the like used. The kind of such a buffering component is not particularly limited in principle, as long as it meets the regulations of food safety laws and regulations, and typically one or more of alkali metal carbonate, bicarbonate, phosphate, hydrogen phosphate (mono or di) or alkali metal hydroxide are included.

Further, the hydrolysis temperature may be set to not more than 60℃and preferably 45 to 55 ℃. The hydrolysis time may be 0.5 to 1.5 hours, preferably 0.8 to 1 hour.

In some specific embodiments of the invention, the invention preferably preheats water when using it to solubilize whey protein, and then adds whey protein material, in view of easier availability of the desired composition of degraded whey protein of the invention and more of the desired active/functional peptides. The preheating temperature may be generally the same as the hydrolysis temperature, i.e., not more than 60 ℃, preferably 45 to 55 ℃.

After the enzymolysis is finished, optionally, enzyme deactivation treatment can be performed. The conditions for the enzyme inactivation treatment are not particularly limited, and for example, a high-temperature inactivation method can be used.

(whey protein-based protein composition)

The whey protein-based protein composition of the invention is derived from the degradation products of whey proteins described above. In some embodiments, the protein composition comprises a degradation product of whey protein as described above; or in other embodiments, the protein composition is a degradation product of whey protein as described above.

Further, in the protein composition, the protein component has the following molecular weight distribution:

(i) The content of the protein component having a molecular weight of 2000Da or less is 70 mass% or more, preferably 72 mass% or more, more preferably 75 mass% or more, for example, 78 mass%, 80 mass%, 85 mass%, 88 mass%, 90 mass%, 92 mass%, 95 mass%, 98 mass%, 100 mass%, etc.;

the content is the content of the protein component in condition (i) in terms of dry weight to the total protein component in the protein composition.

It has been confirmed that, in the case of this composition (degree of hydrolysis), the resulting degraded component is enriched with a plurality of peptide chain components having effects of promoting blood pressure health and resisting oxidative aging in the human body, and also does not cause an increase in bad taste (particularly under the action of the above-mentioned complex enzyme).

In addition, in some preferred embodiments, the protein component in the protein composition may have one or both of the following conditions in addition to the molecular weight distribution conditions described above:

(ii) The content of the protein component having a molecular weight of more than 2000 to 10000Da is 5 to 12 mass%, preferably 6 to 10 mass%;

(iii) The content of the protein component having a molecular weight of more than 10000Da is 25% by mass or less, preferably 14 to 22% by mass.

Further, the total content of the protein component in the protein composition is generally determined by the method for producing whey protein described above, and therefore, the total content of the protein component in the protein composition is 8 mass% or more, preferably 10 to 90 mass%, for example 11 to 80 mass%, 12 to 70 mass%, 15 mass%, 20 mass%, 25 mass%, 30 mass%, 35 mass%, 40 mass%, 50 mass%, 60 mass%, 65 mass%, 75 mass%, 85 mass%, etc., based on the dry weight of the total mass of the dry matter of the protein composition.

By adjusting the protein component composition in the whey protein-based protein composition of the invention to the above-described case, the absorbability, the organoleptic properties and the functionalities can be simultaneously achieved.

In addition, the protein composition of the present invention may contain, in addition to the above-mentioned hydrolyzed whey protein liquid component, other components derived from whey protein raw materials, including a carbohydrate component and optionally one or more of an oil component and an inorganic (mineral) salt, and the content of the carbohydrate is 90 mass% or less, preferably 80 mass% or less, for example, 8 to 70 mass%, 10 to 60 mass%, 20 to 50 mass%, 30 to 40 mass%, or the like on a dry weight basis. The content of the oil component is 8% by mass or less, preferably 5% by mass or less, for example, 0.1 to 3% by mass, 0.2 to 2% by mass, or the like.

The form of the whey protein-based protein composition of the invention is not particularly limited, and may be in the form of a solution, slurry or solid (powder), preferably, may be in the form of a solution. In some specific embodiments, the solids content of the solution of the whey protein-based protein composition may be from 5 to 20 mass%, preferably from 8 to 18 mass%.

< second aspect >

In a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a preferred method of preparing a whey protein-based protein composition of the first aspect, more preferably the protein composition may be a hydrolyzed whey protein solution.

Such a method comprises:

a step of dissolving the whey protein raw material in preheated water;

enzymolysis;

and (3) enzyme deactivation.

(step of preheating dissolution)

In the preparation method, the whey protein raw material is dissolved in the preheated water before the enzymolysis step, so that the subsequent enzymolysis efficiency can be improved, and finally, the high-quality protein component with higher small molecular weight protein ratio and stronger functional selectivity can be formed.

Specifically, in the step of pre-heating and dissolving the whey protein, the whey protein is dissolved at a temperature T ₁ Under the condition, adding whey protein raw material into the mixture, preheating (temperature T ₁ ) Stirring and dissolving, and heating and preserving heat by steam.

Said temperature T ₁ In some specific embodiments it may be no more than 60 ℃, such as 45 ℃ to 55 ℃, preferably 48 ℃ to 53 ℃. The agitation method, in some embodiments, may be high-speed shear hydration using a hand-held mixer. By using the stirring method at the temperature, the whey protein raw material can be rapidly and fully dissolved in water to prepare a hydration solution suitable for enzymolysis.

The concentration of the protein in the whey protein liquid may be 5 to 20 mass%, preferably 8 to 18 mass%, or the like in some specific embodiments.

(step of enzymolysis)

In the step of enzymolysis of the whey protein solution, the pH is preferably adjusted to 6.0-8.2 at a temperature T using the above-mentioned buffering ingredients ₂ And (3) carrying out enzymolysis on the whey protein solution under the condition.

Said temperature T ₂ In some specific embodiments, can be combined with T ₁ The temperature is the same and may be, for example, 45℃to 55℃and preferably 48℃to 53 ℃. At this temperature, the enzyme has a higher activity and the time for the enzymatic hydrolysis may be in some embodiments from 0.5 to 1.5 hours, preferably from 0.8 to 1 hour. At this time, the enzyme may break down the whey protein into hydrolyzed proteins of the appropriate molecular weight distribution. In addition, for the time of enzyme dissolution, in In some specific embodiments, no more than 3 minutes.

(step of inactivating enzyme)

After the enzymolysis step, the enzymolysis step is performed with an enzyme deactivation step to terminate the hydrolysis reaction to obtain protein hydrolysate.

Specifically, in the step of inactivating enzyme, the enzyme is inactivated at a temperature T ₃ And (3) enzyme deactivation is carried out under the condition, enzyme deactivation parameters are determined according to the enzyme with the highest enzyme deactivation temperature and time, and meanwhile, the protein liquid is ensured not to be denatured due to enzyme deactivation heating. In some embodiments of the invention, the temperature T ₃ The enzyme deactivation time may be from 95 to 120℃and preferably from 100 to 110℃and may be from 10s to 10min and preferably from 10s to 20s. After enzyme deactivation, cooling to below 10 ℃ at normal temperature to obtain hydrolyzed whey protein liquid.

< third aspect >

In a third aspect of the present invention, a formula milk product and a method of making the same are provided. For the formulated dairy product of the invention, which may be in a solid, liquid or semi-solid form, it is preferred that the dairy product of the invention may be in a powdered form.

In some specific embodiments, the formula is a formula, such as may be used by infants, adults, and the elderly. In particular, the dairy product is particularly suitable for middle-aged and elderly people.

Specifically, the dairy product of the present invention comprises:

(A) The whey protein-based protein composition according to the first aspect, and in addition thereto one or more of the following additional components (i.e. not derived from the whey protein-based protein composition):

(B) A functional protein component, (C) a carbohydrate component, (D) an oil component, (E) a mineral salt component, and (F) other nutritional supplement components.

(functional protein component)

The functional protein component that can be used is not particularly limited in principle, and may be, for example, various casein, immunoglobulin, lactoferrin, or the like. The amount of these components to be added is not particularly limited as long as it meets the regulations of the law and regulation.

(carbohydrate component)

The type or source of the carbohydrate component to be added to the formula of the present invention is not particularly limited in principle, and those commonly used in the art for the elderly formula can be used.

In some specific embodiments, the carbohydrate ingredients of the present invention are primarily referred to as carbohydrates. The saccharide, which is usually a polyhydroxyaldehyde or polyhydroxyketone, polycondensates thereof and some derivatives thereof, generally consists of three elements of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and can be written as an empirical formula: cn (H) ₂ O) _n 。

In the present invention, as the saccharide substance, typically, monosaccharides, disaccharides, polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, or the like may be included.

As the monosaccharide, glucose, fructose, and the like can be mainly included.

For disaccharides, polysaccharides or oligosaccharides may include: sucrose, lactose, kestose, fructooligosaccharides, glycosaminoglycans, (maltodextrins), and various forms of breast milk oligosaccharides.

In some specific embodiments, the carbohydrate may be added in the form of dietary fiber, for which one or more of inulin, konjac flour, galacto-oligosaccharides, fructo-oligosaccharides, isomalto-oligosaccharides, soy polysaccharides, cyclodextrin, maltodextrin, resistant dextrin, soy fiber may be mentioned, for example.

Further, the total content of the carbohydrate component in the formula of the present invention is not particularly limited, and the present invention may be configured with reference to the content of the carbohydrate component in the formula commonly used in the art for infants, middle-aged and elderly people.

(oil and fat component)

The type of the fat component to be added to the formula of the present invention is not particularly limited in principle, and those fatty acid glycerides commonly used in infant and middle-aged formula products in the art can be used.

For these glycerides, they may be extracted from plants or obtained by artificial synthesis (transesterification). The transesterification method may be carried out by esterifying glycerol with a fatty acid in the presence of a catalyst, or may be carried out by transesterifying a triglyceride and a fatty acid of various sources in the presence of a (specific) catalyst (enzyme). For vegetable oils extracted from plants, the desired fatty acid glycerides may be obtained by mixing one or more of the vegetable oils extracted as follows. The vegetable oil comprises one or more of rapeseed oil, soybean oil, sunflower seed oil, olive oil, sesame oil, corn oil, linseed oil and camellia seed oil.

The fatty acid glyceride is mainly tri-fatty acid glyceride. Examples of these glycerides include OPL, OPO, MLCT, OOL, OPP, OLO, OLL, LPL, LPLn, OPLn, LPCa, OPCa.

The "MLCT structural mixed ester" is a structural mixed ester containing a medium-long chain fatty acid triglyceride as a main component. "MLCT" refers to medium-long chain triglycerides (Middle to Long Chain Triglycerides), which are structural esters having both medium-chain fatty acids (M) and long-chain fatty acids (L) on the glycerol backbone, wherein medium-chain fatty acids refer to fatty acids having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, and long-chain fatty acids refer to fatty acids having more than 12 carbon atoms. MLCT has the characteristics of medium-long chain fatty acid, and has the characteristics of supplying necessary fatty acid, supplying energy rapidly and not causing fat accumulation. Common MLCTs are mainly OPLa, LPLa, OPCa, OLaO, OLaL, OMLa, SLaL and SLaO, etc.

(mineral salt component)

Mineral salt components which can be added to the formula dairy product are mainly used for introducing trace nutrient elements, wherein the trace elements comprise iron, copper, manganese, zinc, cobalt, key, chromium, nickel, vanadium, fluorine, selenium, iodine, silicon, tin and the like.

The mineral salt content in the formula milk product is further required to meet the requirements of laws and regulations.

(other nutritional supplement ingredients)

The other nutritional supplement ingredients that may be added to the formulated dairy product of the present invention are not particularly limited and may be formulated in a manner known in the art.

In some specific embodiments, these supplement ingredients include: one or more of vitamins, probiotics and unsaturated fatty acids.

As the vitamins, for example, one or more of vitamin a, β -carotene, vitamin D3, vitamin E, vitamin K1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, pantothenic acid, folic acid, niacin, biotin can be cited.

For probiotics, for example, bifidobacteria-type probiotics that are beneficial to the intestines and stomach may be used.

Examples of the unsaturated fatty acid include arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid.

The sources of the respective components (B) to (F) are not particularly limited, and may be incorporated by mixing with animal milk or other nutritional additives, for example.

< fourth aspect >

In a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a novel use of the whey protein-based protein composition of the first aspect of the invention and the formulated dairy product of the third aspect.

In particular, it can be used for promoting the health of human body, especially the blood pressure of middle-aged and elderly people, and relieving oxidative aging.

Examples

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples, but it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the following examples are only for illustrating the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. The specific conditions are not noted in the examples and are carried out according to conventional conditions or conditions recommended by the manufacturer. The reagents or apparatus used were conventional products commercially available without the manufacturer's attention.

The enzyme preparations used in the present invention are all derived from commercial enzymes.

The complex protease is Protamex 1.6.

Example 1:

uniformly mixing concentrated whey protein powder WPC80 (protein content 80%) with pure water at 50+ -2deg.C to obtain protein hydration solution with protein content of 11%, shearing at high speed of 20000r/min for 5-10min with a hand-held stirrer, and maintaining the temperature of the hydration solution at 50deg.C for 10min; regulating pH to 7.0+ -0.2, adding compound protease (the ratio of compound protease to flavourzyme is 2:3), and performing enzymolysis at 50deg.C for 40min with the mass ratio of substrate whey protein being 1:50; treating the solution at 105 ℃ for 15s to inactivate protease and terminate enzymolysis reaction, and rapidly cooling to below 10 ℃ to obtain hydrolyzed whey protein liquid.

The method for measuring the molecular weight distribution of the hydrolyzed whey protein liquid comprises the following steps:

a proper amount of sample is taken, added with 5.0mLGPC buffer solution in a centrifuge tube, vibrated, filtered through a 0.45 mu m membrane and put on a machine. Wherein, the chromatographic column: TSK gel UP-SW2000, 125A,2 μm,4.6 mmID. Times.30 cm. Times.2; 2 chromatographic columns are connected in series; mobile phase: the GPC buffer solution, the column is equilibrated with the transition buffer solution, and then with the GPC buffer solution; flow rate: 0.16mL/min; run time: 60min; column temperature: 25 ℃; measurement wavelength: 214nm.

The specific results are shown in Table 1 and FIG. 1:

TABLE 1 molecular weight distribution of hydrolyzed whey protein solution

No.	Molecular weight	Area	％Area	Height
					1	>10000	5464853	14.48	51949
2	10000->5000	935943	2.48	23229
					3	5000->3000	1346199	3.56	51508
4	3000->2000	1773719	4.69	67801
					5	2000->1000	3807362	10.07	78711
6	1000->500	7556646	20.19	219377
					7	500->196	16722060	44.22	257807
8	196 or below	117907	0.31	16673

As a result, it was found that the moderately hydrolyzed whey protein solution obtained by the method of the invention has a molecular weight component content of not less than 2000Da and not less than 70% (in addition, a protein component content of not less than 5 mass% and not more than 12 mass% having a molecular weight of more than 2000Da and not more than 10000 Da; and a protein component content of not more than 25 mass%) having a molecular weight of more than 10000 Da.

Example 2:

for the identification of the protein peptide fragments of the hydrolyzed whey protein solution obtained in example 1.

The identification method of the peptide fragment of the hydrolyzed whey protein comprises the following steps:

taking proper amount of hydrolyzed whey protein liquid, adding 0.1TFA, ultrafiltering (10 kDa) to extract polypeptide, and desalting. Carrying out chromatographic separation on the prepared sample, wherein the separation conditions are as follows: the liquid phase used was 0.1% aqueous formic acid solution A and 0.1% aqueous acetonitrile formic acid solution B (84% acetonitrile). The liquid chromatography column (0.15 mm x 150mm, rp-C18, column Technology inc.) was equilibrated with 95% solution a, and samples were loaded from an autosampler onto a Zorbax 300SB-C18 peptide trap (Agilent Technologies, wilmington, DE) and separated by the column with the associated liquid gradient set as follows:

0-50 minutes, linear gradient of liquid B from 4% to 50%;

50-54 minutes, linear gradient of liquid B from 50% to 100%;

54-60 minutes, the solution B is maintained at 100%.

The product was separated by capillary high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry was performed using a Q exact mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher):

analysis duration: 60min;

the detection mode is as follows: positive ions.

The mass-to-charge ratio of the polypeptide and fragments of the polypeptide was collected as follows:

10 fragment patterns (MS 2 scan) were acquired after each full scan (full scan). And searching a corresponding database by using software MaxQuant 1.5.5.1 to obtain peptide fragment identification and quantitative analysis results.

In this example, the composition and components of the 3-7 peptide and 8-25 peptide small molecule active peptides in the hydrolyzed whey protein liquid were measured and evaluated according to the above method after sampling the hydrolyzed whey protein liquid obtained and preparing the sample, and the results are shown in tables 2 and 3:

TABLE 2 hydrolysis of 3-7 peptides in whey protein liquid and their physiological activities

Sequence number	Peptide sequence	Physiologically active substance	Molecular weight	Parent proteins	Sample of
						1	ALPMH	ACE inhibitor	567.2839	Trafficking protein	3.83％
2	WYS	Antioxidative	454.1852	Titin	3.71％
						3	AVPYP	ACE inhibitor	545.285	Mediator of RNA polymerase II	1.01％
4	YLL	ACE inhibitor	407.242	Titin	0.53％
						5	LGY	ACE inhibitor	351.1794	Titin	0.45％
6	LHF	Antioxidative	415.222	Midasin	0.21％
						7	FAL	ACE inhibitor	349.2002	Titin	0.07％
8	VYP	ACE inhibitor	377.1951	Titin	0.06％
						9	LRFF	ACE inhibitor	581.3326	Ryanodine receptor 1	0.04％
10	VPW	Antioxidative	400.2111	Microtubule-actin cross-linking factor	0.02％
						11	LRW	ACE inhibitor	473.2751	Titin	0.01％

TABLE 3 hydrolysis of 8-25 peptides in whey protein liquid and their physiological activities

The results show that in the peptide fragment of the 3-7 peptide, the main physiological activities are ACE inhibitor (for treating hypertension) and anti-oxidative peptide fragment, and are mainly derived from Titin protein. The major physiological activities in the peptide fragment of the 8-25 peptide are Zinc binding and ACE inhibitor (for the treatment of hypertension), as well as a certain amount of Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor (for the treatment of type 2 diabetes) and Anticancer.

The moderately hydrolyzed whey protein liquid prepared by the invention is rich in small molecular active peptide, has considerable content of active peptide for regulating or treating hypertension and resisting oxidization and treating type 2 diabetes, and has important application value in providing high-quality protein for special people and the elderly.

Example 3:

the hydrolyzed whey protein obtained in example 1 was used as a raw material to prepare a formula milk powder by a wet process according to the weight components of the formula (407 parts of raw milk, 180 parts of hydrolyzed whey protein, 100 parts of skim milk powder, 225 parts of lactose, 75 parts of dietary fiber, 2 parts of vitamins, and 11 parts of minerals). The molecular weight distribution of the protein in the formulation was determined according to the polypeptide molecular assay described in example 1, the results are shown in Table 4:

TABLE 4 molecular weight distribution of proteins in formula milk powder

Molecular weight	Retention Time	Area	％Area	Height
					>10000	12.324	25852655	60.15	199617
10000->5000	16.942	1255481	3.02	22745
					5000->3000	18.133	1133904	2.64	42500
3000->2000	18.249	1158975	2.79	43290
					2000->1000	19.043	2636763	6.14	59543
1000->500	20.4	3120678	7.37	79926
					500->196	21.028	7560481	17.59	103015
196 or below	22.4	129176	0.3	13334

Example 4 and comparative example 1:

the hydrolyzed whey protein and commercial hydrolyzed whey protein powder obtained in example 1 (molecular weight distribution: less than 1000Da: 30-50%, < 5000Da: 57-77%,. Gtoreq.5000 Da: 23-43%) were used as raw materials to prepare a formula milk powder, respectively, to obtain the product of the invention (example 4) and a control product (comparative example 1).

The color, smell and the brewing property of the obtained product are evaluated.

The formula milk powder is characterized by comprising the following components in parts by weight: 407 parts of raw milk, 180 parts of hydrolyzed whey protein, 100 parts of skim milk powder, 225 parts of lactose, 75 parts of dietary fiber, 2 parts of vitamin and 11 parts of mineral.

Product color evaluation criteria:

28g of milk powder is weighed and placed in a white sensory evaluation carrying tray, and is provided for 10 professional-grade tasters to evaluate under an environment with good natural light.

Score total score 5 score:

1-2: the color is obviously nonuniform, the color is dark and matt, and the color is dark and light;

3-4 minutes: the color is uniform and slightly glossy;

5, the method comprises the following steps: the color is uniform, and the product has special milky yellow, pale yellow, light milky yellow and other colors, and has luster.

Dry powder odor evaluation criteria:

Score total score 5 score:

1-2: the product has bitter taste and flavor as described by sensory defect;

3-4 minutes: the special milk flavor of the product is light, and no peculiar smell exists;

5, the method comprises the following steps: the product has special smell, natural and soft milk fragrance, and no peculiar smell.

Recovered milk smell evaluation criteria:

by adopting a sensory evaluation method, weighing 28g of milk powder, adding the milk powder into 180mL of warm boiled water at about 50 ℃, stirring for 15 seconds by using a milk powder spoon, and providing 10 professional-grade tasters with milk liquid for evaluation to give taste scores: score total score 10 score:

1-3: has obvious bitter taste and other sensory defect descriptive smell;

4-6 minutes: slightly bitter, and light in milk flavor;

7-9 minutes: has special milk flavor of the product and no peculiar smell; 10, the method comprises the following steps: the product has special smell, natural and soft milk fragrance, and no peculiar smell.

The specific product scoring results are shown in tables 5 and 6.

TABLE 5 inventive product scoring

Table 6 control product scores

Evaluation criteria for the brewing:

accurately weighing 28g of milk powder, adding the milk powder into 180mL of warm boiled water at about 50 ℃, starting timing from the pouring of the milk powder, and recording the time for the milk powder to completely sink; after stirring for about 30 circles by a milk powder spoon, pouring the dissolved milk into a 20-mesh screen to observe the number of the lumps. The sinking time of the milk powder and the quantity of the lumps reflect the brewing property of the milk powder, and the shorter the sinking time and the smaller the quantity of the lumps represent the better the brewing property. The results of the different product brewing are shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7 evaluation criteria for brewing of products

Brewing type	Comparative example 1	Example 4
			Sinking time	25s	17s
Briquette	In FIG. 2 a	In FIG. 2 b

Example 5 and comparative example 2:

pure water at different temperatures is selected to dissolve whey protein respectively for hydrolysis:

example 5:

the instant concentrated whey protein powder WPC80 is added into pure water preheated to 50+/-2 ℃ to be fully dissolved to prepare a hydration solution with 9% protein concentration, and then the hydration solution is preserved for 8min at 50 ℃.

Comparative example 2: the instant concentrated whey protein powder WPC80 is directly added into normal-temperature pure water for full dissolution, and then heated to 50 ℃ and kept at 50 ℃ for 10min.

The mass ratio of potassium hydroxide to pure water is 1:5, mixing and dissolving to prepare the acid-base regulator to regulate the pH value of the protein hydration solution to 7.0+/-0.2.

The system of example 5 and comparative example 2 above was added with a complexing protease (comprising the complex protease Protamex 1.6 to Flavourzyme 500MG in a mass ratio of 2:3) and the substrate whey protein in a mass ratio of 1.5:50, and performing enzymolysis for 30min at 55 ℃. Wherein, the mass ratio of the compound protease to the pure water is 1:5, mixing and dissolving, wherein the dissolving time of the enzyme preparation is not more than 3min.

The enzymolysis reaction is stopped by high-temperature inactivation, and the enzyme deactivation temperature is 105 ℃ for 15s. Two different hydrolyzed whey protein solutions were obtained, and the molecular weights were measured by the molecular weight measurement method of the hydrolyzed whey protein solution in example 1, and the measurement results are shown in Table 8.

TABLE 8 molecular weight distribution of hydrolyzed whey protein solutions prepared at different dissolution temperatures

Molecular weight	EXAMPLE 5 (%)	Comparative example 2 (%)
			＞10000	14.48	23.74
10000-＞5000	2.48	3.19
			5000-＞3000	3.56	3.77
3000-＞2000	4.69	4.49
			2000-＞1000	10.07	9.44
1000-＞500	20.19	17.73
			500-＞196	44.22	37.46
196 or below	0.31	0.18
			Average molecular weight	2185.74	3151.79

Example 6 and comparative example 3:

example 6 is a protein peptide fragment assay for the hydrolysate of example 5;

Comparative example 3 is a protein peptide fragment assay for the hydrolysate of comparative example 2.

Two different hydrolyzed whey protein solutions were obtained, respectively, and the results of the measurement are shown in tables 9 and 10, with reference to the method for identifying peptide fragments of hydrolyzed whey protein in example 2.

TABLE 9 hydrolysis of 3-7 peptides in whey protein liquid and their physiological activities

Note that: the parent protein refers to the original protein from which the peptide fragment is derived; "/" represents that the relative abundance is less than 0.01%.

TABLE 10 hydrolysis of 8-25 peptides in whey protein liquid and their physiological activities

The results show that in the peptide fragment of the 3-7 peptide, the main physiological activities are ACE inhibitor (for treating hypertension) and anti-oxidative peptide fragment, and are mainly derived from Titin protein. The major physiological activities in the peptide fragment of the 8-25 peptide are Zinc binding and ACE inhibitor (for the treatment of hypertension), as well as a certain amount of Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor (for the treatment of type 2 diabetes) and Anticancer. The comparison result shows that: example 6 shows an overall distribution of functional peptide fragments that is superior to that of comparative example 3.

Example 7 and example 8:

hydrolyzed whey proteins were obtained using different proteases (example 7 using the complex protease alone, and example 8 using the complex protease and the flavor hydrolase added at the optimal ratio) respectively. The specific experimental procedure is as follows:

The instant concentrated whey protein powder WPC80 is added into pure water preheated to 50+/-2 ℃ to be fully dissolved to prepare a hydration solution with 11% protein concentration, and the temperature is kept for 10min at 50 ℃.

And mixing and dissolving potassium hydroxide and pure water in a mass ratio of 1:5 to prepare the pH value adjusting agent adjusting protein hydration solution to 7.0+/-0.2.

The protein hydration liquid is added with composite protease Protamex1.6 (example 7) or compound protease (example 8, wherein the mass ratio of the composite protease Protamex1.6 to Flavourzyme500MG is 2:3), the addition amount of the protease is 3%, and enzymolysis is carried out for 40min at 50+/-2 ℃. Wherein, the mass ratio of the compound protease to the pure water is 1:5, and the dissolution time of the enzyme preparation is not more than 3min.

The enzymolysis reaction is stopped by high-temperature inactivation, and the enzyme deactivation temperature is 105 ℃ for 15s.

Two different hydrolyzed whey protein liquids are respectively obtained, 50mL of hydrolyzed whey protein liquid is measured by adopting a sensory evaluation method and is put into a sensory tasting cup, and 10 professional-grade evaluators are required to evaluate the product smell. Total score 5:

0 to 1 portion: has a severe bitter taste and a pleasant smell in the sensory defect description;

2-3 minutes: has a certain bitter taste and a slightly organoleptic defect;

4-5 minutes: has slight bitter taste and no other odor.

The evaluation results are shown in Table 11.

Table 11 evaluation of the smell of hydrolyzed whey protein solutions prepared with different proteases

Evaluation of odor	Example 8	Example 7
			1	3	2
2	3	3
			3	2	1
4	3	2
			5	2	1
6	2	2
			7	3	2
8	3	2
			9	3	1
10	2	2
			Average value of	2.6	1.8

The result shows that the moderately hydrolyzed whey protein liquid has a certain taste inhibiting effect, and meanwhile, the preferably compounded endo-and exo-protease can obviously inhibit bad taste, so that the usability and acceptability of the product are improved while the efficacy of the product is ensured.

It should be noted that, although the technical solution of the present invention is described in specific examples, those skilled in the art can understand that the present invention should not be limited thereto.

The foregoing description of embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the various embodiments described. The terminology used herein was chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or the technical improvements in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A whey protein-based protein composition, characterized in that the protein composition is derived from degradation products formed by at least partial degradation of whey proteins,

wherein the protein component in the protein composition has the following molecular weight distribution conditions:

the content is the content of the protein component of (i) in the total protein component in the protein composition in terms of dry weight,

2. The protein composition of claim 1, wherein said degradation is an enzymatic hydrolysis performed in the presence of water and an enzyme.

3. The protein composition of claim 2, wherein the enzyme comprises a combination of endo-and exo-proteases.

4. A protein composition according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the protein composition is in the form of a solution, slurry or solid.

5. The protein composition according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a carbohydrate component and optionally one or more of a fat component, an inorganic salt, and wherein the carbohydrate content is 90 mass% or less of the total dry matter mass of the protein composition on a dry weight basis.

6. A process for the preparation of a hydrolyzed whey protein solution according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises:

7. A formula dairy product, characterized in that the dairy product comprises:

(A) A protein composition according to any one of claims 1 to 5, and in addition thereto one or more of the following additional components:

8. The dairy product according to claim 7, wherein the (C) carbohydrate ingredient comprises lactose; the (F) nutritional supplement ingredients comprise one or more of vitamins and probiotics.

9. Dairy product according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that it is an elderly people formula milk powder product.

10. Use of a protein composition according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or a dairy product according to any one of claims 7 to 9 for promoting blood pressure health and/or for alleviating oxidative ageing in a human.