Milk and dairy products as functional foods: a review.

摘要

Functional foods have positive effects on health and/or well-being beyond their nutritional value. The health benefits of milk and dairy products have been known for many years, and are due to their contents bioactive peptides, probiotic bacteria, antioxidants, vitamins, specific proteins, oligosaccharides, organic acids, highly absorbable calcium, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and other biologically active components. These components exhibit an array of bioactivities including the modulation of digestive and gastrointestinal functions, haemodynamic effects, control of the growth of probiotic microorganisms and immunoregulation. The increasing interest of consumers in maintaining or improving their health by eating these types of food products has led to the development of many new functional dairy products. These dairy products contain various bioactive ingredients that can decrease cholesterol absorption, significantly reduce blood pressure or play a role in the regulation of satiety, food intake and obesity-related metabolic disorders, and may exert antimicrobial effects. This review discusses some of the latest findings regarding the role of milk and dairy products as functional foods.