Fibrillar aggregates in powdered milk

Abstract

AbstractThis research paper addresses the hypothesis that powdered milk may contain amyloid fibrils. Amyloids are fibrillar aggregates of proteins. Up to this time, research on the presence of amyloids in food products are scarce. To check the hypothesis we performed thioflavin T fluorescence assay, X-ray powder diffraction, atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscopy imaging. Our preliminary results show that commercially available milks contain fibrils that have features characteristic to amyloids. The obtained results can be interpreted in two opposite ways. The presence of amyloids could be considered as a hazard due to the fact that food products may induce amyloid related diseases. On the other hand, the presence of amyloids in traditionally consumed foodstuffs could serve as proof that fibrils of food proteins do not pose a threat for consumers.