Angiotensin I-converting (ACE)-inhibitory and anti-inflammatory properties of commercially available Greek yoghurt made from bovine or ovine milk: A comparative study

The Role of Bovine and Non-Bovine Milk in Cardiometabolic Health: Should We Raise the "Baa"?

Although causality is yet to be confirmed, a considerable volume of research has explored the relationships between cow milk consumption, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Contrastingly, it has not been comprehensively examined whether milk of non-bovine origin can provide cardiometabolic protection. This narrative review outlines the marked differences in macronutrient composition, particularly protein and lipid content, and discusses how whole milk product (and individual milk ingredients) from different species could impact cardiometabolic health. There is some data, although primarily from compositional analyses, animal studies, and acute clinical trials, that non-bovine milk (notably sheep and goat milk) could be a viable substitute to cow milk for the maintenance, or enhancement, of cardiometabolic health. With a high content of medium-chain triglycerides, conjugated linoleic acid, leucine, and essential minerals, sheep milk could assist in the prevention of metabolic-related disorders. Similarly, albeit with a lower content of such functional compounds relative to sheep milk, goat and buffalo milk could be plausible counterparts to cow milk. However, the evidence required to generate nutritional recommendations for ‘non-bovine milk’ is currently lacking. Longer-term randomised controlled trials must assess how the bioactive ingredients of different species’ milks collectively influence biomarkers of, and subsequently incidence of, cardiometabolic health.

Impact of Type and Enzymatic/High Pressure Treatment of Milk on the Quality and Bio-Functional Profile of Yoghurt

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of the high pressure (HP) processing and transglutaminase (TGase) treatment of bovine (cow) or ovine (sheep) milk, when applied individually or sequentially, on the quality parameters and anti-hypertensive and immunomodulatory properties of yoghurt. Low-fat (2% w/w) bovine or ovine milk samples were used. Results showed that HP treatment of milk led to acid gels with equivalent quality attributes to thermal treatment, with the more representative attributes being whey separation and firmness, which ranged from 47.5% to 49.8% and 23.8% to 32.2% for bovine and ovine yoghurt, respectively, and 74.3–89.0 g and 219–220 g for bovine and ovine yoghurt, respectively. On the other hand, TGase treatment of milk, solely or more effectively following HP processing, resulted in the improvement of the textural attributes of yoghurt and reduced whey separation, regardless of milk type, exhibiting values of 32.9% and 8.7% for the whey separation of bovine and ovine yoghurt, respectively, and 333 g and 548 g for the firmness of bovine and ovine yoghurt, respectively. The HP processing and TGase treatment of milk led to the preservation or improvement of the anti-hypertensive activity of the samples, especially in the case in which ovine milk was used, with Inhibitory activity of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (IACE) values of 76.9% and 88.5% for bovine and ovine yoghurt, respectively. The expression of pro-inflammatory genes decreased and that of anti-inflammatory genes increased in the case of samples from HP-processed and/or TGase-treated milk as compared to the corresponding expressions for samples from thermally treated milk. Thus, it can be stated that, apart from the quality improvement, HP processing and TGase treatment of milk may lead to the enhancement of the bio-functional properties of low-fat yoghurt made from either bovine or ovine milk.

The effect of non-standard heat treatment of sheep's milk on physico-chemical properties, sensory characteristics, and the bacterial viability of classical and probiotic yogurt

Classical and probiotic set yogurt were made using non-standard heat treatment of sheep's milk at 60°C/5min. Physico-chemical properties, sensory characteristics, and the viability of bacteria that originated from cultures in classical and probiotic yogurt were analysed during 21days of storage at 4°C. For the production of yogurt, a standard yogurt culture and a probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG were used. At the end of storage time of the classical and probiotic yogurt the totals of non-denatured whey proteins were 92.31 and 91.03%. The viability of yogurt culture bacteria and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG were higher than 10⁶cfu/g. The total sensory score (maximum - 20) was 18.49 for the classical and 18.53 for the probiotic. In nutritional and functional terms it is possible to produce classical and probiotic sheep's milk yogurt by using a non-standard temperature of heat treatment with a shelf life of 21days.

Effect of Enrichment of Bovine Milk With Whey Proteins on Biofunctional and Rheological Properties of Low Fat Yoghurt-Type Products

In this study, the effect of supplementation of low fat bovine milk with whey protein concentrates (WPC) or whey protein hydrolysates (WPH) on the biofunctional and rheological properties of the produced yoghurt was assessed. Six different set type yoghurt products containing 1.6% fat were manufactured and enriched with: a) 1.5% bovine WPC (80% protein), marked as WPC_A yoghurt, b) 1% WPC (80% protein) of ovine/caprine origin, marked as WPC_B yoghurt, c) 2% commercial mixture of milk proteins, i.e. milk protein concentrate/ caseinates /WPC (82% total protein content), marked as MPM yoghurt, d) 0.25% WPC_B hydrolysed with trypsin, marked as WPH_A yoghurt, e) 0.5% commercial WPH, marked as WPH_B1yoghurt, f) 0.25% commercial WPH, marked as WPH_B2 yoghurt. Control yoghurt was manufactured without addition of protein. Results showed that the protein fortification level affected positively the protein, total solids as well as calcium and phosphorous contents of all yoghurt types. The lowest pH values were observed in the case of WPH_B2 yoghurt, while the highest in the case of MPM yoghurt throughout the storage i.e. 21 days. The characteristic microorganisms were in total more than 108cfu/g. Yoghurts fortified with WPH showed higher ACE-inhibitory activity (determined by the HPLC method) than those enriched with WPC. Also, it is noteworthy that WPH_A yoghurt showed significantly (P<0.05) higher ACE-inhibitory activity (72%) than control yoghurt or yoghurts made with the other WPH. On the other hand, WPH_A yoghurt showed the lowest hardness and adhesiveness, whereas MPM yoghurt showed the highest. The type of added whey protein did not affect cohesiveness. Water holding capacity was higher in yoghurts enriched with WPC and MPM than in the yoghurts enriched with WPH. All yoghurts presented antioxidant activity such as DPPH• radical scavenging activity (45-58%). The WPC_A yoghurt, MPM yoghurt, WPH_A yoghurt and control yoghurt presented high Fe2+ chelating activity (>70%), but WPH_A yoghurt presented the highest Fe2+ chelating activity (>95%) throughout storage. In conclusion, fortification of yoghurt milk with WPH increased the biofunctionality of the product, but the use of WPH of ovine/caprine origin increased it significantly.