Development of Healthy Whey Protein Drinks

Abstract

This research used whey protein with a purity of 95 percent to develop a prototype beverage formula, to develop a production process, to analyze nutritional values and to assess sensory quality. It was found that heating at 60°C was the most suitable condition for producing whey protein beverage. It was a clear, sediment-free, shiny solution and still unchanged when left for at least 8 hours. When adjusting the beverage formula by adding β-cyclodextrin with different concentrations to reduce the bitterness of whey protein drinks, the beverage formula containing β-cyclodextrin with a concentration of 0.05% had a direct effect on reducing bitterness. Results of sensory quality assessment by 50 tasters using the Scoring test method were consistent with those obtained from testing whey protein drinks with the taste sensing system. The drink contained β-cyclodextrin with a concentration of 0.05% had significantly less bitter taste, astringency and the sensation in the mouth after swallowing than that without β-cyclodextrin. In addition, a sugar-free whey protein drink formula was also developed by using the sweeteners sucralose and aspartame to replace sugar. The sensory quality assessment in terms of preference and acceptance of 115 consumers revealed that the whey protein drink formula with sugar had the highest average preference of 6.17 that was not significantly different from that with aspartame having average preference of 5.82. Therefore, the whey protein drink with aspartame could be an alternative for health-conscious consumers who do not want to consume sugar. From nutritional analysis of whey protein drinks, it contained high protein content of 8.67 g/100 ml, free of fat and total energy of 36.5 kcal/100 ml which was suitable to be a healthy drink.