Lactose: Chemistry and properties

Abstract

The principal carbohydrate in the milk of most mammalian species is the reducing disaccharide, lactose, which is composed of galactose and glucose linked by a β1→4 glycosidic bond. Its concentration varies from 0 to ∼10%, w/w, and milk is the only known significant source of lactose. Research on lactose commenced with the work of Carl Scheele about 1780; its chemistry and its important physico-chemical properties have been described thoroughly. The very extensive literature on lactose has been reviewed by Whittier (1925, 1944), Weisberg (1954), Zadow (1984, 1992), Schaafsma (2008) and Ganzle et al. (2008) and in all major textbooks on Dairy Chemistry or Technology, including Jenness and Patton (1959), Webb and Johnson (1965), Webb et al. (1974), Walstra and Jenness (1984), Fox (1985, 1997), Wong et al. (1988), Fox and McSweeney (1998), Walstra (2002) and Walstra et al. (1999, 2006). © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.