Metabolic effects of amino acid mixtures and whey protein in healthy subjects

Background In recent years the awareness of the insulinotrophic effects of milk has been growing. The key mechanism seems to be related to the milk proteins. In previous work, we found that whey proteins are particularly insulinotrophic compared with other proteins of animal (cod and cheese) and vegetable (gluten) origin. It was suggested that postprandial increments in certain amino acids are important in milk induced hyperinsulinaemia. Although the amino acid content of food proteins may be similar, their insulinaemic features can differ substantially. We hypothesized that not only the rate whereby certain amino acids are released during digestion is important to the insulinotrophic properties, but also the postprandial pattern of amino acids in plasma.