Innovative uses of milk in human nutrition and health

摘要

Milk, the only Mother Nature's product created expressly for the purpose of nourishment, is a perfect example of a modern nutraceutical food. Although this unique food material is produced by lactating females of all mammals, the domestic cow has become by far the most important source of milk for human food needs. In many countries, the two sides of the dairy industry - the milk production by dairy farmers and the conversion of the raw milk into a vast array of dairy foods by the dairy industry - represent a very significant segment of the national industrial spectrum. Responding to the desires of consumers for increased nutritional benefits of processed foods, the contemporary dairy industry has devised many new approaches to using milk as a source of many unique nutrients. Several new technologies are now available to extract the most valuable milk components such as bioactive proteins (e.g. lactoferrin) for specific uses; to enrich milk products with some of the important nutraceuticals (e.g. milk minerals); to modify individual milk components to maximize the nutritional benefits of milk for those consumers who may suffer from intolerances, malabsorptions or allergies (e.g. enzymatic transformations involving lactose or beta-lactoglobulin); orto use milk and dairy products as carriers of healthful probiotic bacteria. Some of the most successful technological approaches to modifications of milk can result in new dairy products that deliver the nutritional benefits of milk while still maintaining the traditional sensory qualities to which the consumers are accustomed, as demonstrated by the development of the lactose-free milk for lactose intolerant consumers. Continuing advances in animal science, breeding, genetics and farming practices have been complementing the ongoing technological developments, leading to modifications of primary milk composition in an effort to maximize the production of the most desirable milk nutrients (e.g. the minor components such as whey proteins). This reviewwill use utilization of whey as an example of some of the novel uses of milk for creation of nutritionally superior novel foods.