The broad biological functions of lactoferrin determine its applications in cosmetics, food, animal production, medicine, and other fields, serving as an antioxidant, immune promoter, iron supplement, drug carrier, etc.
Cosmetics
Lactoferrin is a natural substance in the human body, with broad-spectrum antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, melanin-inhibiting, and collagen-promoting effects. Therefore, it can be used as an active ingredient in the development and utilization of cosmetic formulations. In the development of whitening cosmetics, the raw materials have certain stability during processing, and lactoferrin has extremely high stability, so it can be used as a raw material to produce whitening agents. Studies have shown that when lactoferrin is used to assess whitening function on animal skin models, it reduces melanin formation, and the ability to inhibit melanin is proportional to the lactoferrin content, indicating that lactoferrin can be absorbed by the skin, thereby exerting a whitening effect. Lactoferrin can promote collagen synthesis in human osteoblasts, compensating for collagen loss caused by age and environmental factors, resulting in a whitening effect on human skin. Lactoferrin has显著 whitening effects and broad prospects for cosmetic applications, but its molecular mechanism requires further study.
Food Industry
As of 2021, the market offers a wide variety of products containing lactoferrin, including yogurt, skim milk, health foods, fermented dairy products, and many others. In the late 20th century, Japanese dairy companies began producing and selling infant formula containing lactoferrin. Adding lactoferrin to infant formula has many benefits, including promoting iron absorption and improving gut microbiota. Clinical and animal experiments have confirmed that these lactoferrin-containing products are very beneficial to health. In countries and regions such as Japan and South Korea, it is popular to add lactoferrin to fermented dairy products, infant foods, soy protein products, and meat products to supplement lactoferrin, enhance immunity, and prevent viral colds, intestinal infections, and other diseases..
Animal Production
Adding lactoferrin to sow feed allows sows to obtain large amounts of endogenous lactoferrin, which can reduce the probability of iron deficiency anemia in piglets, improve piglet immunity, and promote piglet growth. Adding lactoferrin to piglet diets improves gut microbiota, prevents intestinal diarrhea, and enhances nutrient absorption in the piglet gut. Feed supplemented with lactoferrin can prevent oxidative decomposition and enhance its nutritional components. Lactoferrin also maintains its physiological function well during high-temperature feed processing, so it can be used as a green feed additive in animal farming.
Disease
Lactoferrin not only regulates iron metabolism but also plays an important role in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant processes. Lactoferrin receptors exist on the cell membrane surface, with a molecular weight of about 105 kDa. Common target cells include mucosal epithelial cells, hepatocytes, monocytes, macrophages, lymphocytes, and bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas. Lactoferrin binding to bacterial cell surface receptors can activate intracellular signaling pathways or enter the nucleus through endocytosis,参与机体 immunity and antibacterial functions. Studies have confirmed that lactoferrin receptors are highly expressed in neurons and capillary endothelial cells in the brains of Parkinson's disease patients, and lactoferrin binding inhibits prion protein传播. This role of lactoferrin suggests its potential application value in neurodegenerative diseases.
Content source: Baidu Baike: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B9%B3%E9%93%81%E8%9B%8B%E7%99%BD/3407131?fr=aladdin