Salute e Benessere
New Scientific Review Highlights β-Lactoglobulin's Dual Benefits for Metabolic and Muscle Health
Rich in leucine and capable of generating bioactive peptides during digestion, BLG offers a rare combination of metabolic and muscle-preserving benefits – two of the most pressing nutrition challenges in ageing and metabolic health.
The review highlights several features that set BLG apart. It contains 1.5 times more leucine than standard whey or casein, providing a strong trigger for muscle protein synthesis. BLG ensures sustained amino acid availability, longer than with other proteins. Its structure also confers bioactive versatility: BLG can bind hydrophobic ligands such as fatty acids and retinol, and during digestion it releases peptides that have been shown to support glucose regulation. Together, these properties underpin BLG's comprehensive metabolic actions – influencing insulin, GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon, supporting glucose uptake, slowing gastric emptying, and promoting satiety – and help create a favorable hormonal milieu that stimulates both muscle protein synthesis and glucose disposal.
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The new review arrives at a time when global demand for BLG is soaring. Most BLG suppliers are sold out until at least 2026, with dairy supply constrained by structural challenges: fewer and ageing farmers, farm closures, and strict emission targets limiting herd expansion. Meanwhile, whey prices continue to climb.
For the food industry, this science opens opportunities in functional nutrition, active ageing, sports recovery, and medical nutrition – particularly when paired with sustainable production methods. Traditionally sourced from dairy, BLG can now also be produced via precision fermentation, offering consistent quality, optimized bioactivity, and a dramatically lower environmental footprint compared to conventional dairy farming.
To meet both scientific promise and market demand, the review points to precision fermentation as a scalable path forward. The technology enables the production of BLG with consistent bioactivity, free from seasonal variations, and with a fraction of the land, water, and carbon footprint of conventional dairy. It also allows for tailored BLG variants with optimized amino acid profiles or enhanced bioactive sequences for specific applications.
21st.BIO develops industrial-scale precision fermentation technology for high-value dairy proteins such as BLG and α-lactalbumin. Building on strain optimization expertise developed over decades within Novonesis (formerly Novozymes), the company provides licensing programs that cover the full journey from strain to scale-up. Its platform helps partners – from start-ups to ingredient manufacturers and dairy companies – to bring next-generation proteins to market at competitive cost and commercial scale.
Mathilde Pinon
Marketing & Business Development Manager
m.pinon@21st.bio | +45 31543184
www.21st.bio
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https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/r/new-scientific-review-highlights-b-lactoglobulin-s-dual-benefits-for-metabolic-and-muscle-health,c4205458
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