Engineered food/protein structure and bioactive proteins and peptides from whey

Traditionally, whey was considered a by-product in the manufacturing of cheeses with little or no commercial value. This view is changing as novel technical and nutritional applications are being discovered for whey or whey components. The composition of whey depends on the method of cheese manufacture, but the major components are proteins, lactose and minerals. Some whey constituents have unusual properties that make them valuable commercially as sources of flavor enhancers, fat substitutes, food binders, and recently, as functional ingredients with biological activities. This contribution summarizes some of the biological activities attributed to whey proteins and peptides derived thereof and advances in the use of whey proteins in biopolymer mixtures for engineered food structure development.This work was supported by projects CYTED 1.105PI0274, ANPCYT-PICT 13723, UBACYT X128, CM-S0505-AGR-0153 and AGL-2005-03381Peer reviewe