Whey protein micelles

Abstract

The present invention relates to whey protein micelles, particularly to whey protein micelle concentrates or powders thereof and to a method for producing them. The present invention also pertains to the use of these micelles concentrates or powders thereof in nutrition and/or cosmetics and/or pharmaceutics.

The invention is claimed as follows: 
     
         1 . A powder comprising:
 whey protein in which at least 20 wt % of the whey protein is whey protein micelles, and greater than 80% of the whey protein micelles have an average size between 100 nm and 700 nm.   
     
     
         2 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder comprises the whey protein in an amount of at least 85 wt % of the powder. 
     
     
         3 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the whey protein micelles comprise more than 50 wt % of the powder. 
     
     
         4 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the whey protein micelles comprise more than 80 wt % of the powder. 
     
     
         5 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has a moisture content of less than 10 wt % of the powder. 
     
     
         6 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has a moisture content of less than 4 wt % of the powder. 
     
     
         7 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has a water binding capacity of at least 50%. 
     
     
         8 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has a water binding capacity of at least 90%. 
     
     
         9 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has a water binding capacity of 100%. 
     
     
         10 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has a glycerol binding capacity of at least 50%. 
     
     
         11 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has an ethanol binding capacity of at least 50%. 
     
     
         12 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has an oil binding capacity of at least 30%. 
     
     
         13 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder contains functional ingredients in an amount of 0.1-50 wt % of the powder. 
     
     
         14 . The powder of  claim 13 , wherein the functional ingredients are selected from the group consisting of coffee, caffeine, green tea extracts, plant extracts, vitamins, minerals, bioactive agents, salt, sugar, sweeteners, aroma, oils, fatty acid, protein hydrolysates, peptides and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has an angle of repose that is less than 35°. 
     
     
         16 . The powder of  claim 1 , wherein the powder has an angle of repose that is less than 30°. 
     
     
         17 . A whey protein micelle concentrate comprising at least 12 wt % of the concentrate as protein, at least 50 wt % of the protein is micelles, and greater than 80% of the micelles have an average size between 100 nm and 700 nm. 
     
     
         18 . The whey protein micelle concentrate of  claim 17 , wherein greater than 80% of the micelles have an average size between 200 nm and 400 nm. 
     
     
         19 . The whey protein micelle concentrate of  claim 17 , wherein the micelles have a coating. 
     
     
         20 . The whey protein micelle concentrate of  claim 19 , wherein the coating is selected from the group consisting of an emulsifier, a protein, a peptide, a protein hydrolysate and a gum. 
     
     
         21 . The whey protein micelle concentrate of  claim 19 , wherein the coating is an emulsifier selected from the group consisting of sulphated butyl oleate, diacetyltartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides, citric acid esters of monoglycerides, stearoyl lactylates and combinations thereof.