The aim of the study was to investigate the lipid composition of a whe
y and two by products from its defatting by thermocalcic aggregation o
f lipoproteins. From a whey containing 0.7% of lipids, two fractions w
ere separated: a microfiltrate with very low lipid content (0.07%) and
a precipitate containing 2.9% of lipids. The lipid extracts of these
whey fractions show similar lipid composition (triglycerides/phospholi
pid ratio, triglyceride and phospholipid fatty acid composition). Thes
e results indicate that the process exhibits no selective effect on li
pid. The whey phospholipids contain 34% of phosphatidyl-ethanolamine,
31% of phosphatidyl-choline and 15% of sphingomyelin, 12% of phosphati
dyl-inositol and 8% of phosphatidyl-serine. Whatever the phospholipid
class, the polyunsaturated fatty acid proportion is low (3 to 17%).