Milk-and-Dairy-Products-in-Human-Nutrition-FAO

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Chapter 5
Dairy components, products
and human health
Catherine Stanton 1 , Deirdre McMahon 2 and Susan Mills 3
1 Principal Research Officer, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy,
Co. Cork, Ireland; 2 Nutrition Consultant, Nutrition Division, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy; 3 Research
Scientist, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
Abstract
This chapter opens with an overview of the main dairy components and their associated
health effects. The following section explores the health impact of fermented
and fortified foods in which nutrient contents have been increased or decreased.
Traditional means, such as fermentation, can be employed to add nutritive value to
the final product. The nutritional profile can be improved by adding nutrients that
are not naturally present in milk, such as iron, plant sterols and stanols, a process
known as fortification. Nutritional composition can be modified by reducing or
removing dairy components such as fat and lactose. Innovation in the production
of dairy products offers a valuable growth opportunity for the food and beverage
industries in an era when consumers are more health conscious and aware of the
connection between diet and health. Many countries are revising their regulatory
frameworks to protect consumers from misleading advertising and labelling concerning
health and nutrition claims, and the final section of this chapter reviews
these changes and their implications for the dairy industry and the consumer.
Keywords: milk, nutrition, health, fat, protein, bioactive peptides, fermentation,
fortification, health and nutrition claims
5.1 Introduction
Milk and fermented dairy products have a long history of use, as far back as the
seventh millennium BC (Evershed et al., 2008). In recent decades, technological
innovations have led to a wide variety of dairy products, some of which have had
components, such as fat and lactose, removed or contents reduced and others of
which have been fortified with components, such as iron, sterols and vitamin D.
Heightened awareness of the connection between diet and health has increased the
demand for certain types of products, such as those with low fat and low calorie contents
and products to which vitamins and minerals have been added (EUFIC, 1996).
When considering the health impact of dairy foods, it is critical to evaluate the
impact of the food as a whole, and not just the individual nutrients. Dairy products