Mineral fortification process and its uses

Abstract

A mineral-protein complex (Complex I) is provided, including a mineral and a protein, wherein the protein is derived from a milk source and wherein the milk source has a ratio of protein to calcium is equal to or above 45:1, and wherein the mineral-protein complex includes over 1% w/w bound mineral. A mineral-protein complex (Complex II) is also provided, including an exogenously added mineral and a protein, wherein the mineral-protein complex is soluble in a solution at a physiological pH between 6.6 and 6.9 and the complex includes exogenous phosphorus.

1 . A milk or concentrated milk product,
 wherein the milk or concentrated milk product includes a mineral-protein complex, the complex comprising:   a) a mineral; and   b) a milk protein   the milk or concentrated milk product has a ratio of milk protein to calcium equal to or above 45:1, and wherein the mineral-protein complex includes over 1% w/w mineral bound to protein.   
     
     
         2 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the lactating animal is a mammal. 
     
     
         3 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the milk source is bovine milk. 
     
     
         4 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the ratio of protein to calcium in the milk source is equal to or above 58:1. 
     
     
         5 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the ratio of protein to calcium in the milk source is approximately between 58:1 and 640:1. 
     
     
         6 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein approximately 70% w/v of the calcium has been removed from the milk source. 
     
     
         7 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes between 1% to 20% w/w mineral bound to protein. 
     
     
         8 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes between 1% to 7% w/w mineral bound to protein. 
     
     
         9 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mineral is iron. 
     
     
         10 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 9  wherein the iron is ferric and/or ferrous salts of iron. 
     
     
         11 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the milk protein is selected from casein and whey protein or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the protein is casein. 
     
     
         13 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes exogenously added phosphorus. 
     
     
         14 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes an amount of phosphorus to provide a ratio of protein to phosphorus in the milk source of up to 8:1. 
     
     
         15 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 14  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes an amount of phosphorus to provide a ratio of protein to phosphorous in the milk source of up to 6.25:1. 
     
     
         16 . The milk or concentrated milk product as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mineral-protein complex is used as a food additive or ingredient within a nutritional beverage product, food product, therapeutic/pharmaceutical composition or animal feed composition. 
     
     
         17 . A method of manufacturing a milk or concentrated milk product, wherein the milk or concentrated milk product includes a mineral-protein complex including a mineral and a milk protein, and wherein the milk or concentrated milk product has a ratio of protein to calcium equal to or above 45:1 and wherein the mineral-protein complex includes over 1% w/w bound mineral,
 the method comprising the step of:
 a) adding the mineral to the milk or concentrated milk product. 
   
     
     
         18 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the milk or concentrated milk is in liquid form and selected from the group consisting of whole milk, skimmed milk, low lactose milk, ultrafiltration retentate concentrated milk and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the milk is stirred, or in case of powder source, is dissolved in an amount of water, and mixed at a temperature between 2-95° C. 
     
     
         20 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the method includes removing an amount of calcium from the milk source. 
     
     
         21 . The method as claimed in  claim 20  wherein the amount of calcium removed from the milk source utilises an ion exchange step. 
     
     
         22 . The method as claimed in  claim 21  wherein the ion exchange step utilises a weakly acidic cation exchange resin of K +  form. 
     
     
         23 . The method as claimed in  claim 21  wherein the amount of resin used is 0.1-80% w/v. 
     
     
         24 . The method as claimed in  claim 22  wherein the amount of resin used is 0.1 to 50% w/v. 
     
     
         25 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the method includes reducing the amount of calcium in the milk source to a ratio of protein to calcium equal to or greater than 58:1. 
     
     
         26 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the method includes reducing the amount of calcium in the milk source to a ratio of protein to calcium of approximately 106:1. 
     
     
         27 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the method includes removing the amount of calcium in the milk source by at least 50% w/w and up to 100% w/w of the calcium from the milk source. 
     
     
         28 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the pH is maintained between 6.0 to 8.5 using at least one pH regulator. 
     
     
         29 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the pH is maintained at approximately 6.5 to 7.5. 
     
     
         30 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the calcium is removed whilst retaining the temperature between approximately 2-10° C. 
     
     
         31 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the method includes adding phosphorus to the milk or concentrated milk. 
     
     
         32 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein phosphorus is added to the milk or concentrated milk to provide a ratio of protein to phosphorus between 64:1 to 8:1. 
     
     
         33 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein phosphorus is added to the milk or concentrated milk to provide a ratio of protein to phosphorus between 30:1 to 8:1. 
     
     
         34 . The method as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the temperature is maintained between 2-10° C. when the mineral is added. 
     
     
         35 . The use of a milk or concentrated milk as claimed in  claim 1  for the manufacture of a fortified product, to help an animal achieve the dietary mineral intake required for optimum health. 
     
     
         36 . An ingredient for use in fortified products to help an animal meet its mineral requirements for optimum health, the ingredient consisting of a milk or concentrated milk as claimed in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         37 . The ingredient as claimed in  claim 36  wherein the mineral is selected from iron, zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, selenium, chromium, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         38 . (canceled) 
     
     
         39 . (canceled) 
     
     
         40 . A non-micellar mineral-protein complex comprising: an exogenously added mineral and a protein, wherein the mineral-protein complex is soluble in a solution at a physiological pH between 6.6 to 6.9; and
 the complex includes exogenous phosphorus.   
     
     
         41 . The complex as claimed in  claim 40  wherein the protein is a phosphoprotein. 
     
     
         42 . The complex as claimed in  claim 41  wherein the phosphoprotein is casein. 
     
     
         43 . The complex as claimed in  claim 40  wherein the casein containing compound is sodium caseinate, potassium caseinate, ammonium caseinate, lactic casein and/or derivatives or fractions of caseins. 
     
     
         44 . The complex as claimed in  claim 40  wherein the mineral is iron. 
     
     
         45 . The complex as claimed in  claim 40  wherein the iron is ferric iron. 
     
     
         46 . The complex as claimed in  claim 40  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes above 1% w/w mineral bound to protein. 
     
     
         47 . The complex as claimed in  claim 40  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes between 1% to 20% w/w mineral bound to protein. 
     
     
         48 . The complex as claimed in  claim 40  wherein the mineral-protein complex includes between 1% to 9% w/w mineral bound to protein. 
     
     
         49 . A method of manufacturing a mineral-protein complex including an exogenously added mineral and a protein, wherein the mineral-protein complex is soluble in a solution at a physiological pH between 6.6 to 6.9
 the method comprises:
 a) adding exogenous phosphorus to the protein; and 
 b) adding the exogenous mineral to the protein to form the complex. 
   
     
     
         50 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the protein used is a casein containing compound. 
     
     
         51 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the casein containing compound used in the method is sodium caseinate, potassium caseinate, ammonium caseinate, lactic casein and/or derivatives and fractions of caseins. 
     
     
         52 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the method including dissolving the protein in water to form a solution. 
     
     
         53 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the protein concentration in the solution is configured to be between 1-12.5% w/v. 
     
     
         54 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the phosphorus is added to the protein solution prior to the addition of the mineral component. 
     
     
         55 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the source of phosphorus is K 2 HPO 4 . 
     
     
         56 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein an amount of phosphorus is added to the protein solution such that the ratio of protein to phosphorus is between 5:1 to 130:1. 
     
     
         57 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the ratio of protein to phosphorus is between 7:1 to 90:1. 
     
     
         58 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the mineral is added to the mixture resulting from step a). 
     
     
         59 . The method as claimed in  claim 49  wherein the mineral is iron. 
     
     
         60 . The method as claimed in  claim 59  wherein the iron is ferric iron. 
     
     
         61 . The method as claimed in  claim 59  wherein the ratio of protein to iron is between 200:1 to 2:1. 
     
     
         62 . The method as claimed in  claim 59  wherein the ratio of protein to iron is between 100:1 to 7:1. 
     
     
         63 . The method as claimed in  claim 59  wherein after step b), the mineral component, protein and phosphorus are mixed for a period of time at 2-10° C. 
     
     
         64 . A use of a mineral-protein complex as claimed in  claim 40  in the manufacture of a fortified product to help an animal achieve its dietary mineral intake required for optimum health. 
     
     
         65 . The use as claimed in  claim 64  wherein the mineral used is selected from iron, zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, selenium or chromium. 
     
     
         66 . An ingredient for use in fortified products, to help an animal achieve the dietary mineral intake required for optimum health, the ingredient consisting of a mineral-protein complex as claimed in  claim 40 . 
     
     
         67 . The ingredient as claimed in  claim 66  wherein the mineral is selected from iron, zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, selenium, chromium, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         68 . (canceled) 
     
     
         69 . (canceled)