Human milk is the ideal food in terms of nutrition for newborns, as it provides a myriad of bioactive functions that influence infant’s healthy growth, before they are able to digest any other food. Studies show that exclusive human milk feeding during the first few months of life decreases the risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) compared to commercial infant formula feeding. Despite the important role of human milk for health, a particular difficulty with research in this area is the lack of sufficient material for performing large functional and in vivo studies. In the search of bioactive compounds mimicking human milk, bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMO) were discovered a few years ago. To this extent, our group has explored the viability of dairy streams as sources and identified a multitude of BMO in cheese whey permeate, the by-product of whey protein concentration. The concurrent application of mass spectrometry methods with novel purification techniques enable gaining valuable information about the bioactive milk oligosaccharides and guide their separation process from dairy streams. This work has also been generating valuable bioinformatic libraries containing the experimentally determined information (accurate masses measurements, tandem spectra and retention times) of bovine glycans to facilitate their identification in other dairy streams (e.g. mother liquor). Preliminary in vitro results using purified BMO fractions demonstrate significant growth of commensal bacteria. Released N-glycans from milk proteins demonstrated an even higher prebiotic selectivity towards specific strains of beneficial Bifidobacteria. Additionally, the ability to use novel processing enzymes cloned from Bifidobacteria to harvest bioactive human milk oligosaccharide (HMO)-mimics (glycans from proteins) using an abundant and inexpensive substrate such as cheese whey, will enable development of new food products with health guiding capabilities for infants, immuno-compromised elderly, and the population at large as well as add value to an existing agricultural co-product.

Since dairy products are important contributors to the intake of saturated fat in the Western diet, the general recommendation is reduction in intake of high-fat dairy products. However, the effects of dairy products on cardiovascular disease risk is still unclear. In fact, a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies showed a modest inverse association between dairy intake and risk of cardiovascular disease. Since these products possess different characteristics it might be important to examine them separately for disease risk. However, very few studies have specifically evaluated the relation between fermented milk intake and cardiovascular disease risk. Among 26,445 individuals from the Swedish Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort, consumption of dairy products was inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease. Among the specific dairy products, a protective relationship was observed only for fermented milk. The highest vs. lowest intake category of fermented milk was associated with 15% decreased risk. Cheese intake was significantly associated with decreased risk in women only. Interestingly, we observed lower degree of insulin resistance among subjects with high intake of fermented dairy products. A protective association with high intake of fermented milk was also observed in another study, where lower intake of fermented milk was observed among Swedish men that subsequently had a myocardial infarction compared to healthy controls. High fermented milk intakes were associated with healthier food habits in our study, e.g. higher intake of fruit, vegetables, whole grains and fish. Therefore, it may be difficult to separate out the effect of fermented milk intake from the entire lifestyle and food pattern. In addition, the impact of dairy foods may be more pronounced in different dietary contexts. Our study suggests that it is important to examine dairy products separately, especially fermented and non-fermented milk products, when investigating their health effects.

Background: Studies indicate that milk consumption may reduce risk of overweight. The mechanism behind is not well-documented, but the protein ANGPTL4 may play a role. ANGPTL4 is known to inhibit uptake of lipid from blood stream to adipose tissue. Butyric acid upregulates ANGPTL4, and as milk is one of a few food sources containing this fatty acid, we studied the effect of milk on ANGPTL4 in pigs. Metabolomics was used to reveal possible underlying mechanisms.Results: Our in vitro studies showed that free fatty acids (FFAs), especially short and medium chain FFAs, induced ANGPTL4 gene expression and protein secretion. In pigs fed milk, small intestinal ANGPTL4 gene expression was increased compared to the control group. Long saturated FFAs (C14-C18) were more abundant in the last part of the large intestine and in feces in the milk supplemented group. This may be a consequence of increased ANGPTL4 secretion from the pancreas to the intestine resulting in a reduced lipolytic activity.  At the same time, short and medium chain FFAs (SMCFFAs) (C4-C12) were excreted to the urine indicating a quicker uptake of those compared to the long chain FAs. Their presence in urine might be a result of a homeostasis process. Furthermore, two ω-oxidation products of medium chain FAs were observed in the milk group, indicating higher rates of the energy expenditure, which may eventually reduce the gain of body fat.  Conclusion: Consumption of milk may reduce lipid uptake and storage and increase rates of energy expenditure.