Milk and Dairy Products: Bioactive Compounds, Microorganisms and Health
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Dairy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: hygiene food; biofilms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: food and environmental toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Milk and dairy products are not only essential sources of high-quality nutrients, but also contain a rich variety of bioactive compounds that exert multiple physiological and health-promoting effects. These biologically active molecules include peptides, proteins, vitamins, minerals, oligosaccharides, and lipids, all of which play key roles in maintaining human health beyond basic nutrition. The most significant bioactive components—such as immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, casein-derived peptides, and growth factors—are released through enzymatic hydrolysis during digestion, microbial fermentation in products like yogurt and cheese, or through specific food processing techniques.
These bioactive compounds influence several physiological systems. Immunomodulatory components like immunoglobulins and lactoferrin enhance immune function and promote passive immunity, helping the body defend against pathogens. Antimicrobial peptides, such as casocidin and isracidin, inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria, while milk oligosaccharides and glycolipids prevent pathogens from adhering to intestinal cells. Cardiovascular health also benefits significantly from dairy-derived peptides, as they can lower blood pressure by inhibiting the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and prevent the formation of blood clots, contributing to better heart function.
Another critical benefit of milk bioactive compounds lies in mineral absorption and bone health. Moreover, certain milk-derived components such as glycomacropeptides act as prebiotics, fostering the growth of beneficial gut bacteria like Bifidobacteria, which contributes to digestive health and microbial balance. Growth factors including insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) play essential roles in tissue development, repair, and overall growth regulation.
In conclusion, milk and dairy products represent a versatile and potent natural source of bioactive compounds with multifaceted health benefits. Continued scientific exploration of these compounds promises to expand their functional applications in food, nutrition, and medicine, reinforcing milk’s role as not only a fundamental food but also a functional and therapeutic resource for human health.
This Special Issue aims to bring together the most innovative research on the health benefits of bioactive compounds in milk and dairy products. This could be of great help for future research. We therefore encourage you to contribute with your work.
Dr. Conrado Javier Carrascosa Iruzubieta
Prof. Dr. Carmen Rubio-Armendariz
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- milk
- dairy product
- bioactive components
- prebiotics and probiotics
- fermented dairy products
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