MILK COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE

INTRODUCTION
 Milk is one food for which there seems to be no adequate substitute. All mammals
produce milk after the birth of the young ones and man uses milk of many animals as
his food.
 Milk from different animals is used as food, but in India, buffalo and cow are the two
species which are most important for the commercial production of milk and milk
products.
COMPOSITION OF MILK
 Milk is a complex food, which contains more than 100 components. Most of these
components are suspended in water and thus milk is a colloidal solution and is
opaque.

TABLE: COMPOSITION OF MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS (per 100g)

Moisture Calorie Protein Fat Lactose Ca Fe Vit. Thiamine Riboflavin

(g) (g) (g) (g) (mg) (mg) A (mg) (mg)
(mcg)
Cow’s milk 88 67 3.2 4 5.0 120 0.2 57 0.05 0.19

Buffalo’s milk 81 117 4.3 9 5.0 210 0.2 53 0.04 0.10

Human milk 88 65 1.1 3 7.4 28 _ 137 0.02 0.02

Curd 89 60 3.1 4 3 150 0.2 34 0.05 0.16

Butter milk 98 30 0.8 1 4 30 0.8 0 _ _

Butter 19 730 _ 81 _ _ _ 317 _ _

Ghee, 0 900 _ 100 _ _ _ 89 _ _

Buffalo’s
Ghee, cow’s 0 900 _ 100 _ _ _ 198 _ _

cheese 40 348 24.1 25 6.3 790 2.1 _ _ _

Khoa 31 421 14.6 31 _ 650 5.8 _ _ _

SMP(skimme 4 357 38 0.1 _ 1370 1.4 0 0.45 1.64

d milk
powder)
WMP(whole 4 375 38 0.1 _ 1370 1.4 0 0.45 1.64
milk powder)
Channa, 54 265 18.3 21 _ 208 _ 121 0.07 0.02
paneer

 Milk is a complex mixture of lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and many other organic
compounds and inorganic salts dissolved or dispersed in water.
 The most variable component of milk is fat followed by protein.
 Milk fat: milk fat or butter fat is of great economical and nutritive value.
 The flavour of milk is due to milk fat. Milk is a true emulsion of oil-in-water
 MILK FAT: is a mixture of several different glycerides. They contain about 64%
fatty acids ranging from 4-26 carbon atoms.
 Milk contains considerable amount of short chain fatty acids which give the
characteristic flavour and off flavour.
 The milk fat consists mainly of triglycerides, approx. 98%, while other milk lipids are
diacylglycerol (abt2% of the lipid fraction), cholesterol (less than 0.5%),
phospholipids(abt 1%) and free fatty acids (FFA) (abt 0.1)

MILK PROTIENS
 CASEIN: Casein constitutes 80% of the total nitrogen in milk. It is precipitated on the
acidification of milk to pH 4.6 at 20*C. the remaining whey protein constitutes
lactoglobulin and lactalbumin.
 Casein is also a glycoprotein. Glutamic acid is the predominant one in casein. Proline,
aspartic, leucine, lysine and valine are also present. It is a good source of essential
amino acids
 Casein contains 8.2% calcium and 5.7% carbohydrates.
 WHEY PROTEINS: whey proteins are made up of -lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin
(50%), serum albumin, the immune globulins, enzymes and proteose. And also
contains small amounts of lactoferrin and serum transferrin.
 MILK SUGAR: milk contains 4-5% carbohydrate. Chief carbohydrate present in milk
is lactose (disaccharide) trace amounts of glucose, galactose and other sugars are also
present.
 SALTS: Chlorides, phosphates, citrates, sulphates and bicarbonates of sodium,
potassium, calcium and magnesium are present. Copper and iron are important in the
development of off flavours in milk and milk products. Trace elements like zinc,
aluminium, molybdenum and iodine.

ENZYMES:
Catalase, Peroxidase, Xanthin oxidase, Alkaline phosphatase, Amylase, Lipase,
Aldehyde oxidase.
 The enzymes found in milk can originate from the mammary glands or may be
released by contaminating bacteria.
 Alkaline phosphatase exists as lipoprotein this enzyme is inactivated by normal
pasteurisation procedures and its activity is tested to determine the effectiveness of
pasteurisation
 Milk lipase is responsible for the development of rancid flavours in milk.
 Xanthin oxidase occurs in the fat globule membrane. It is a conjugated protein
complexed with FAD, iron and molybdenum.
 COLOUR: White colour of milk is caused by the reflection of light by the colloidally
dispersed casein, calcium and phosphorus.

NUTRITIVE VALUE
 Milk has good quality protein and the biological value is over 90.
 Lysine is one of the essential amino acids which is abundant in milk.
 The fat of milk is easily digestible. It contains linoleic acid (2.1%) linolenic
acid(0.5%) and arachidonic acid (0.14%).
 Dairy foods are a major source of calcium in addition, dairy products contain other
nutrients such as vitamin D and lactose which favour calcium absorption. Milk is a
poor source of iron.
 Thiamine occurs in only fair concentration in milk, riboflavin is present in a higher
concentration in milk than other B-vitamins.
 Milk is not a good source of niacin but it is an excellent source of tryptophan.
 Milk is a very poor source of vitamin C. the amount of vitamin A and D depend on
the feed of the animal.
Evaporated milk is made by evaporating more than half the water from milk under vacuum.
It is necessary to fore-warm milk 10mins to prevent coagulation of casein during sterilization
after it is canned. Colour and flavour are best preserved if sterilization is carried out at high
temperature for short time.
Condensed milk is concentrated to about 1/3 of its original volume and has about 15% sugar
added to milk. Since the finished product contains at least 40% of sugar, which acts as a
preservative, it is not necessary to sterilize it before canning. Indian standards require 31%
total milk solids and 9% fat in sweetened condensed milk.
Homogenisation is carried out by forcing milk through small openings under high pressure.
It reduces the size of fat globules in milk and thus prevents their separation. This treatment
increases the stability of the emulsion, as the cream does not separate on standing.
Dehydrated milk products include whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, infant milk
foods and malted milk.
Dried milk products are manufactured by 2 methods.
i. Roller or drum drying in which the milk is sprayed on the surface of the heated metal
cylinders in vacuum.
ii. And spray drying in which the partially evaporated milk is sprayed into a chamber of
heated air.
Indian standards require that the moisture content of the dried milk be less than 4%.
Therefore, dehydrated milk is a concentrated source of protein, calcium and riboflavin and
other nutrients.
Skimmed milk powder in production of skimmed milk powder, the milk fat is remover or
skimmed from the milk, before the milk is dehydrated to a moisture content less than 4%. It
has therefore lower energy value, higher protein, calcium and riboflavin content as compared
to dried whole milk and is devoid of vitamin A. the Indian standards require that dried
skimmed milk must contain less than 0.5% fat and 96.5% total solids.
Use of milk powder when fresh milk or curd is unavailable, milk or curds can be prepared
from milk powder. It is also used in various biscuit, chocolates, halwas, gulab jamuns. Milk
powder is very handy and can be used in the place of milk during emergency.
Infant milk foods are fortified with varying amount of certain nutrients, such as iron, vitamin
C and vitamin D.
REFERENCES
 Food science – Sumati R. mudambi, Shalini M. Rao, M. v. Rajagopal
 Food Science – B Srilakshmi
 https://www.researchgate.net