Health benefit of bioactive substances in cow’s milk

Prva i osnovna hrana mladunčadi svih sisavaca je - mlijeko. Još uvijek se istražuje kolika je važnost mlijeka i mliječnih proizvoda u ishrani odraslog čovjeka te kakav je njihov učinak na zdravlje. S obzirom da je mlijeko složenog sastava, godinama se proučavaju pozitivne, ali i negativne strane njegovih pojedinih sastojaka. Unutar sastojaka mlijeka nalaze se brojne tvari različitih bioloških učinaka koje mlijeku daju epitet funkcionalne hrane. Mlijeko sadržava tvari raznolikog kemijskog sastava koje vrlo djelotvorno sudjeluju u podržavanju određenih fizioloških funkcija organizma te, potkrijepljeno znanstvenim dokazima, imaju i ljekovit učinak. Radi dobrobiti ljudskog zdravlja, znanstvenici i istraživači još uvijek razmatraju moguće biološke učinke pojedinih sastojaka kravljeg mlijeka, međutim rezultati procjene su vrlo često oprečni. U ovom su radu razmotrene do danas poznate biološki aktivne tvari u kravljem mlijeku i njihovi potencijalni učinci na zdravlje te su raspravljene mogućnosti povećanja sastojaka mlijeka koji su se pokazali osobito korisnim i djelotvornim u prevenciji bolesti.The very first and an essential food provided to offspring of all mammals is milk. The importance of milk and dairy products in human diet, as promoters of good health, is still investigated. Since milk\u27s composition is rather complex, its constituents have been for many years on the priority list of research, with their positive and negative effects on human health. Milk is composed of various substances with bioactive properties and therefore milk was given an epithet of functional food. The high diversity in chemical structure enables milk constituents to support particular physiological functions of organism, and express curing effects which is scientifically proven. The scientists and researchers are still discussing possible influences of particular bioactive components from cow’s milk on human well being, and their assessments are very often controversial. In this paper the presently known bioactive substances in cow’s milk and theirs potential implications on human health are reported, pointing the directions for further research, particularly related to increase of the most useful and the most effective milk components for the prevention of pathological processes and disease development