Nutritional Benefits of Dairy Ingredients

Knowledge to date shows that therapeutic and supplementary foods formulated with dairy ingredients deliver stronger health results for the most at-risk populations. The nutritional benefits of dairy ingredients can be traced to three key aspects: high-quality proteins, a complete amino acid profile, including a high level of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and bioactive fractions which have been shown to help improve health.

The following tables below compare dairy proteins to other protein alternatives in terms of both amino acid content and protein quality. Detailed information and nutritional profiles for milk and whey ingredients is also available by clicking the appropriate product.

Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) and Leucine Content of Protein Foods*

	BCAAs	Leucine
Whey protein isolate	26%	14%
Milk protein	21%	10%
Egg protein	20%	8.5%
Muscle protein	18%	8%
Soy protein isolate	18%	8%
Corn-soy blend	18%	10%
Wheat protein	15%	7%

*Values reflect grams of amino acids/100g of protein.

Source: USDA Food Composition Tables

 

PDCAAS of Key Protein Sources

Ingredient	PDCAAS
Milk	1.23
Whey protein	1.15
Soybean protein	0.94
Whole wheat-pea flour*	0.82
Peas	0.67
Corn-soy blend	0.65
Lentils	0.52
Peanut meal	0.52
Whole wheat	0.40

*An example of mutual supplementation. Combining whole wheat and pea flours yields a protein with a higher PDCAAS than that of either product alone.

Source: Reference Manual for U.S. Milk Powders