CLINICAL AND INVESTIGATIVE MEDICINE, VOL. 11,.NO. 4,.PP 271-278,. 1988.

The Immunoenhancing Property Of Dietary Whey Protein Concentrate

Gustavo Bounous^1,2, Patricia A.L. Kongshavn^1,3 and Phil Gold^1,4

¹The Montreal General Hospital Research Institute, ²Departments of Surgery, ³Physiology, and ⁴Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

(ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT SUBMITTED OCTOBER 22, 1987: ACCEPTED IN REVISED FORM JANUARY 25, 1988)

ABSTRACT - 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.