Karnal: NDRI scientists develop high-protein ice-cream

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 9

Scientists of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), here, have developed high-protein ice-cream to address the protein deficit among a large number of population. The scientists claimed that it contained around 150 per cent higher protein in comparison to the conventional ice-cream. It contains 10 per cent protein, of which 70 per cent is whey protein, while the conventional ice-cream available in the market, contained only 4 per cent protein having around 0.8 per cent of the whey protein, they said.

Whey protein makes it highly nutritious

Ice-cream is the most popular dairy dessert consumed by almost all segments of the population. We have developed this high-protein ice-cream by supplementing it with highly nutritious and muscle strengthening whey protein. Dr MS Chauhan, Director, NDRI

The scientists used whey proteins derived from milk or milk products which was considered as gold standard of protein for professional sportspersons. Whey protein works as an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune boosting, said Dr MS Chauhan, Director, NDRI, after launching the ice-cream, the commercialisation of which is underway.

Scientists comprising Dr SA Hussain, Dr Writdhama Prasad, Dr Yogesh Khetra and research scholars Suchismita Roy and Sonam under the guidance of Dr Latha Sabikhi, Dr AK Singh and Joint Director, Academics, Dr RRB Singh, started the research in 2018 and they took three years to get desired results after overcoming the challenges, including maintaining the texture, overrun, melting quality and taste in high-protein ice-cream.

“Ice-cream is the most popular dairy dessert consumed by almost all segments of the population. We have developed this high-protein ice-cream by supplementing it with highly nutritious and muscle strengthening whey protein,” said Dr Chauhan while congratulating the scientists. He said this ice-cream could be prepared in any flavour.

The developed product does not involve any major changes in the processing line during its preparation, which will make it easy for small, medium and large-scale dairy industries to adopt. The high-protein ice-cream will be costing Rs 3 more than the conventional ice-cream per 100-ml packing. “Protein is an important macro-nutrient and plays a vital role in our body’s growth and development. As per the Indian Council of Medical Research, an adult should consume about 0.8–1g protein per kg body weight for a healthy life; however, the actual value of protein consumption is close to 0.6 g per kg ideal body weight in the age group of 18 years,” said Dr Hussain.

“Supplementing whey proteins in highly popular food products will help in addressing the quality protein needs of the consumers’ at a large scale,” said Dr Hussain. “We engineered the colloidal aspects of the ice-cream structure to overcome the quality defects and prepared consumer acceptable high-protein ice-cream which has similar sensory qualities that of a regular ice-cream,” he added.