The impact of the Maillard reaction on the in vitro proteolytic breakdown of bovine lactoferrin in adults and infants.

The Maillard reaction has been proposed as a natural pathway to functionalize proteins and modulate their proteolysis. Nevertheless, gaps in understanding the digestive fate of Maillard reaction products (MRPs) still exist, especially regarding bioactive proteins such as lactoferrin (LF). UV absorbance and SDS-PAGE were used to monitor reaction progression under mild thermal processing (60 °C, 79% RH).