EC Nutrition

Dairy-based functional foods have emerged as a rapidly growing segment in the global food and nutrition market due to their unique combination of essential nutrients and bioactive components. These products incorporate functional ingredients such as probiotics, prebiotics, bioactive peptides, omega-3 fatty acids, plant extracts, and micronutrients to enhance health beyond basic nutrition. This short review explores the current evidence on the health benefits of functional dairy foods, including their roles in gut health modulation, immune enhancement, metabolic regulation, and reduction of chronic disease risk. Despite these benefits, several limitations hinder their wider application. Challenges include variability in functional ingredient stability, interactions with dairy matrices, reduced bioavailability during processing, regulatory constraints, consumer perception issues, and potential allergenicity. Additionally, technological barriers such as maintaining probiotic viability, ensuring sensory acceptance, and optimizing encapsulation are other significant challenges. The review also highlights future perspectives and research needs, including advanced processing technologies, precision fermentation, clean-label formulations, and the development of multifunctional dairy systems. Dairy-based functional foods hold strong potential to address evolving consumer health demands, but the success of the commercialization and satisfactory health benefits depends on overcoming scientific, technological, and regulatory limitations through innovative and interdisciplinary approaches.

 Keywords: Dairy-Based Functional Foods; Probiotics; Prebiotics; Bioactive Peptides; Omega-3 Fatty Acids

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