Casein Powder

α-casein is the main protein in mammals. There is no α-casein in human milk, and β-casein is the main form of casein. Casein is not only a source of amino acids for infants, but also a source of calcium and phosphorus. Casein forms curd in the stomach for digestion.

Casein is the main protein in the milk of mammals, including cows, sheep and human milk. The protein in milk is mainly casein (Casein), while human milk mainly contains albumin. Casein is a large, hard, dense and extremely difficult-to-digest curd.
Casein is the most abundant protein in milk. It has various physiological functions such as preventing tooth decay, preventing osteoporosis and rickets, promoting in vitro fertilization in animals, regulating blood pressure, treating iron deficiency anemia, magnesium deficiency neuropathy, etc. Especially, its function of promoting the efficient absorption of macronutrients (Ca, Mg) and micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Co, Mn, Se) gives it the reputation of being a "mineral carrier". It can combine with metal ions, especially calcium ions, to form soluble complexes. On the one hand, this effectively avoids the formation of calcium precipitates in the neutral or slightly alkaline environment of the small intestine. On the other hand, it can allow calcium to be absorbed by intestinal cells without the participation of VD.
Casein is a non-crystalline and non-hygroscopic substance. It can dissolve in water at room temperature at a rate of 0.8-1.2%. It is slightly soluble in water at 25°C and organic solvents, and soluble in dilute alkali and concentrated acid. It can absorb water and rapidly expand when immersed in water, but the molecules do not combine.

Application of Casein in Food
Production of Infant Milk Powder
Casein contains 8 essential amino acids and has extremely high nutritional value. It can be hydrolyzed by caseinase without the need for pre-denaturation. When applied to infant formula milk powder and food, casein is easily absorbed by the infant's body and plays an extremely important role in supplementing the nutrients needed by the infant's body. Since β-CN is the main protein component in human breast milk, in recent years, people have begun to use β-CN to simulate the protein composition of infant formula milk powder, optimize the protein composition and amino acid ratio of infant milk powder, and improve the nutritional quality of infant formula milk powder.
Production of Nutritional Supplements
Casein easily combines with metal ions, especially calcium ions, to form soluble complexes, which can promote calcium ions to be absorbed by intestinal wall cells without the participation of vitamin D. Therefore, casein can be used as a supplement for calcium and iron nutrition. For those who love fitness, casein can not only provide the protein needed for the normal operation of the human body, but also effectively protect muscles from damage and resist protein breakdown. In addition, casein can also remain in the human blood for a longer time. [5]
Meat product processing
Casein has a large number of phosphate groups and has hygroscopicity and water retention properties. In meat products, casein can combine with proteins in the meat to absorb water, thereby increasing the water retention and adhesion of the meat products and improving the quality of the meat products. In addition, because casein has a very stable chelation system, it can combine with other substances and give food better texture and taste, so people began to use the fibrous-like structure presented by casein and xanthan gum after thermal treatment to imitate the moist and smooth, cream-like texture of fat, and replace certain types of meat and lipid foods in the diet of certain specific groups.
Application of casein in the medical field
Used as a drug carrier
The chelation structure of casein can well combine with other substances, promoting the better absorption of the chelated substances, and can be continuously released at a specific target. Casein micelles and nanoparticles have been successfully applied to the nanoencapsulation of various hydrophobic biological molecules, such as β-128 carotene, vitamin D2, flutamide, curcumin, quercetin, etc., with good solubility and shelf life. Bindhya et al. extracted dietary isoflavone genistein from soybeans using microwave-assisted method and encapsulated the drug in milk casein carrier, and combined with progesterone, targeting the receptors on breast cancer or ovarian cancer cells, optimizing the drug loading to 88.67%, improving the potential of soy extract drugs for anti-cancer activity against ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer cells.
Preparation of bioactive peptides
Casein is in an inactive state in the parental protein sequence. By hydrolyzing specific peptide bonds of casein with proteolytic enzymes, it becomes a bioactive peptide fragment. These active peptides are mostly used as peptide drugs or reagents, and can also be used in functional foods. They are easily absorbed by the human body in the small intestine and have high safety. Therefore, bioactive peptides derived from casein are increasingly attracting people's attention. Currently, dozens of bioactive peptides with physiological properties have been discovered, such as Mudgil et al. using alkaline protease and streptavidinase E to treat bovine and camel casein respectively to generate bovine milk and camel milk casein hydrolysates, used to simulate the effective hydrolysate after gastrointestinal digestion, and found that both have significant inhibitory effects on pancreatic lipase and cholesterol esterase. Inhibiting pancreatic lipase secretion is an effective method for treating obesity, therefore, the casein hydrolysates from camel milk and cow milk have the potential to be developed as new anti-obesity functional compounds. These active peptides have very important and widespread biological and regulatory functions, and their biological and nutritional functions provide a broad market for large-scale production. For most bioactive peptides derived from casein, due to the difficulty in separating and purifying the active peptides from the casein hydrolysates and the lack of mature detection methods and technologies, the physiological mechanism of the active peptides is still unclear, and therefore, there are certain difficulties in industrial production.
Preparation of medical hemostatic agents
Hemorrhage refers to the loss of circulating blood volume in severe trauma and damaged blood vessels after trauma. An ideal hemostatic agent can stop bleeding quickly and not cause any adverse reactions. Nanofiber materials based on natural polymers have a high specific surface area, strong liquid absorption capacity, and sufficient mechanical stability, which are conducive to the development of hemostatic agents. Casein is an excellent source for producing anticoagulants and angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI). The hydrolysate of casein exhibits strong anticoagulant activity by prolonging thrombin time (TT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and has strong angiotensin I-converting enzyme activity. Tu et al. first proposed a new strategy for preparing self-assembled chitosan-casein polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) by using the interaction between polymers to manufacture very small nanofibers. Due to their small diameter, chitosan-casein nanofibers provide a very large surface area for interaction with blood components and exhibit excellent coagulation efficiency. In addition, chitosan-casein PECs have good blood compatibility and are non-toxic. Moreover, casein also helps epithelial cell proliferation and the restoration of the integrity of the epithelial barrier (epithelial recovery), and enhances the wound healing activity of hemostatic agents.

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