The immunoenhancing property of dietary whey protein concentrate

The plaque-forming cell response to sheep red blood cells was found to be enhanced in mice fed a formula diet containing 20 g lactalbumin/100 g diet in comparison to mice fed equivalent formula diets of similar nutritional efficiency containing 20 g/100 g diet of either casein, soy, wheat or corn protein, egg albumin, beef or fish protein, Spirulina maxima, or Scenedesmus protein, or Purina mouse chow. This effect was manifest after 2 weeks and persisted for at least 8 weeks of dietary treatment. Mixing lactalbumin with either casein or soy protein in a 20 g protein/100 g diet formula significantly enhanced the immune response in comparison to that of mice fed diets containing 20% soy protein or casein.