The Effects of Microfluidization and Homogenization on the Composition and Structure of Liposomal Aggregates from Whey Buttermilk and Commercial Buttermilk

Abstract

Milk derived ingredients from the production of cheese and butter can be used as vehicles for nutrients. Buttermilk is a nutritious product of milk that comes from the churning of cream into butter. One of the advantages of buttermilk is that it is enriched in milk fat globule components, such as phospholipids and forms emulsions with fat when treated with high shear. The objective of this work was to explore the effects of shear on regular buttermilk and whey buttermilk in terms of liposomal aggregate size and chemical composition. The effects of microfluidization at 2000 psi and homogenization at 2000 psi/500 psi on the particle size distribution of liposomal aggregates between whey buttermilk (WBM) at pH 4.6 and 6.8 and commercial sweet buttermilk (SBM) at pH 4.60 were compared with whey protein isolate (WPI) at pH 4.6. At pH 6.80, WPI and SBM are too soluble in water to measure particle size but WBM is not as soluble. From this investigation, the mean particle diameter of the SBM aggregates at pH 4.6 decreased after the first pass through the microfluidizer and the same is true, after homogenization. SBM aggregates at pH 4.6 had a significantly larger mean particle diameter before treatments in both shear processes compared to WPI at pH 4.6 and WBM at pH 4.6 and WBM at pH 6.8 (p < 0.0001). WPI at pH 4.6 and WBM at both pH showed no significant differences in their mean particle size in both homogenized and microfluidized treatments. WPI and SBM samples resulted in significant particle diameter differences vi from before to after homogenizing at pH 4.6. SBM at pH 4.6 had significantly larger average particle diameter than WBM at pH 4.6 (p < 0.0002), WPI at pH 4.6 (p < 0.0002) and WBM at pH 6.8 (p < 0.0045) before microfluidization at pass 0.