Milk provides a well-balanced source of amino acids and other ingredients. One of the functional ingredients in milk is lactoferrin (LF). LF presents a wide variety of bioactivities and functions as a radical scavenger in models using iron-ascorbate complexes and asbestos. Human clinical trials of oral LF administration for the prevention of colon polyps have been successful and demonstrated that dietary compounds exhibit direct interactions. However, antioxidative properties of LF in distant organs require further investigation. To study the antioxidant property of LF, we employed bovine lactoferrin (bLF) using the rat model of ferric nitrilotriacetate (Fe-NTA)-induced renal tubular oxidative injury. We fed rats with bLF (0.05%, w/w) in basal chow for 4 weeks and sacrificed them after Fe-NTA treatment. After intraperitoneal administration of 9.0 mg iron/kg Fe-NTA for 4 and 24 h, bLF pretreatment suppressed elevation of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels. In addition, we observed protective effects against renal oxidative tubular damage and maintenance of antioxidant enzyme activities in the bLF-pretreated group. We thus demonstrated the antioxidative effect of bLF against Fe-NTA-induced renal oxidative injury. These results suggest that LF intake is useful for the prevention of renal tubular oxidative damage mediated by iron.

Quality and the color changes of Jersey cow's meat , and the three muscles, M. longissimus thoracic, M. semitendinosus and M. biceps femoris, were compared with Holstein breed. The following results were obtained: (1) Significant difference was observed on the fat contents in the three muscles. Longissimus thoracic of Jersey breed contained 13.8%, which was the highest among the muscles. Jersey breed showed high marbling score. (2) Cooking loss of Jersey breed was lower than that of Holstein breed in longissimus thoracis and biceps femoris. Significant difference was observed among the three muscles in Jersey breed, longissimus had the lowest value with 23.2%. (3) The subcutaneous fat of Jersey breed had more oleate and total unsaturated fatty acids than those of Holstein breed. (4) Hematin contents in semitendinosus of Jersey breed were about 1.4 times higher than those of Holstein's, and resulted in low lightness (L*). (5)Metmyoglobin formation in biceps femoris of Jersey breed was most rapid among the muscles, and the content reached 35.8% at 72 hours. Metmyoglobin formation increased exponentially with hematin content.

The purposes of this research were to use fig protease for texture tenderizing, and to inhibit angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) action and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) formation of meat. Liberated peptides by the enzymatic action of fig protease in processing meat and free amino acids were determined and ACE inhibitory activity was assayed. Meat treated with fig protease became tender as indicated by shear force value (SFV) which was half of those of non-fig treated meat during storage even at 5 degrees C. Liberated peptides, free amino acids and GABA increased while extremely low levels of Glu were detected after storage. The optimal temperature of fig protease against meat was 80 degrees C. However, the activity of fig protease decreased after pre-heating more than 40 degrees C. High ACE inhibitory activity of a mixture of fig and meat was found around 80 degrees C, and the value corresponded to the amount of liberated peptide. A lot of liberated peptides were found at 60-80 degrees C and pasterization of meat product becomes convenient to produce peptides. Production of ACE inhibitory peptides and GABA can be expected as the healthy functional meat product such as antihypertensive activity and improve brain function.

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However, metmyoglobin in longissumus thoracis of cows fed vitamin E was accumulated more than of control cows.