Bovine Milk as a Source of Functional Oligosaccharides for Improving Human Health

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ABSTRACT

Human milk oligosaccharides are complex sugars that function as selective growth substrates for specific beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal system. Bovine milk is a potentially excellent source of commercially viable analogs of these unique molecules. However, bovine milk has a much lower concentration of these oligosaccharides than human milk, and the majority of the molecules are simpler in structure than those found in human milk. Specific structural characteristics of milk-derived oligosaccharides are crucial to their ability to selectively enrich beneficial bacteria while inhibiting or being less than ideal substrates for undesirable and pathogenic bacteria. Thus, if bovine milk products are to provide human milk–like benefits, it is important to identify specific dairy streams that can be processed commercially and cost-effectively and that can yield specific oligosaccharide compositions that will be beneficial as new food ingredients or supplements to improve human health. Whey streams have the potential to be commercially viable sources of complex oligosaccharides that have the structural resemblance and diversity of the bioactive oligosaccharides in human milk. With further refinements to dairy stream processing techniques and functional testing to identify streams that are particularly suitable for enriching beneficial intestinal bacteria, the future of oligosaccharides isolated from dairy streams as a food category with substantiated health claims is promising.

Abbreviations

B. infantis
Bifidobacterium longum ssp. Infantis
BMO
bovine milk oligosaccharide
FOS
fructo-oligosaccharide
FT-ICR
Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance
GOS
galacto-oligosaccharide
HMO
human milk oligosaccharide
NeuAc
N-acetylneuraminic acid
NeuGc
N-glycolylneuraminic acid

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Supported by the California Dairy Research Foundation (10 GEB-02 NH); the University of California Discovery Program (05GEB01NHB); the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P42ES004699); the Dairy Research Institute; and the CHARGE study (P01 ES11269).

Author disclosures: A. M. Zivkovic and D. Barile received research funding from the Dairy Research Institute and the California Dairy Research Foundation.