Solving the mystery of the internal structure of casein micelles

Abstract

The interpretation of milk X-ray and neutron scattering data in relation to the internal structure of the casein micelle is an ongoing debate. We performed resonant X-ray scattering measurements on liquid milk and conclusively identified key scattering features, namely those corresponding to the size of and the distance between colloidal calcium phosphate particles. An X-ray scattering feature commonly assigned to the particle size is instead due to protein inhomogeneities.