Arla says UHT-friendly whey can tackle elderly malnutrition

19-Nov-2012 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 09:44 GMT

Related tags Whey protein Nutrition Amino acid

About 60% of elderly hospital patients in the UK are malnourished according to recent data from the British Dietetic Association, a problem companies like Danish firm Arla Food Ingredients are trying to tackle with a new whey form.

Arla business development manager Vivian Kjaer Jensen says Lacprodan (whey protein concentrate) is the first WPC to be available in ultra-high temperature (UHT) formulations which can act as meal replacements to tackle the hospital malnutrition problem.

“Up until now the preferred protein source was casein because this is a very heat-durable protein but on high demand from our customers they have demanded a more high quality protein source,” Kjaer Jensen relayed.

“Whey protein differs from casein in that it has a natural content of all the essential amino acids and it has a high content of the special branch chain amino acids which are the group that are very important for alleviating protein malnutrition and especially important in relation to rebuilding and restoring your muscle mass.”

This clinical nutrition market, worth €3.6bn in the US and Europe, serves the elderly with health issues like muscle wasting or those who are recovering from illness or surgery.