Differential Scanning Calorimetry Quantification of Folded Whey Proteins in Infant Formula.

Human milk (HM) is recommended for infants, as it provides essential nutrients and folded whey proteins, including lactoferrin (LF), that perform antimicrobial functions and aid in gut development. However, many rely on infant formulas (IFs), where there are no clear data on how much folded whey protein is present. We applied differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and circular dichroism (CD) to compare folded whey protein in commercial IFs. Overall, we demonstrated that the major brands of IF had significantly different amounts of folded β-lactoglobulin (β-LG), the most concentrated whey protein in IF (2.90 mg/mL compared to 1.83 and 1.02). The CD results confirmed differences in secondary structure between brands (p ≤ 0.05). Our developed DSC method could be used to quantify LF in simulated HM and IFs with added LF. These findings support the use of DSC for quantifying folded whey proteins in the development of IF that better mimics HM.