Composition, Digestive Characteristics, and Bioactivity of Milk and Dairy Products

Dear Colleagues,

Milk and dairy products play a central role in human nutrition and are recognized as sources of bioactive compounds with potential benefits for chronic disease prevention. Understanding their composition, digestive behavior, and functional properties is essential for producing high-quality dairy products and advancing knowledge on their physiological relevance.

This Special Issue invites contributions that explore innovations aimed at improving the quality, digestibility, and bioactivity of milk and dairy products, as well as studies that clarify the influence of different food matrices and processing conditions. We particularly encourage research that bridges food science and physiology, providing new insights and directions for future work.

We welcome original research articles, short communications, systematic compilations, reviews, perspectives, opinion pieces, commentary articles, and applied or industrial studies addressing the following:

(i) Macronutrient and micronutrient composition, fatty acid and amino acid profiles, physicochemical characteristics, bioactive components, and processing factors affecting composition;
(ii) Effects of the food matrix and processing on digestibility, including nutrient bioaccessibility and interactions with digestive enzymes;
(iii) Metabolic and physiological impacts of bioactive dairy compounds, including bioactive peptides, CLA, and MFGM.

Dr. Carla Paulo Vieira
Prof. Dr. Marion Pereira Da Costa
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.