Incorporation of Probiotics and Other Functional Ingredients in Dairy Fat-Rich Products: Benefits, Challenges, and Opportunities

This review focuses on the potential opportunities to incorporate functional ingredients like probiotics in the dairy fat-rich matrix to develop functional foods. Many dietary guidelines and the relevant literature have in general indicated many benefits of consuming milk-fat-rich products for the human body. Milk fat contains essential nutrients, including fat-soluble vitamins; short-, medium-, and long-chain with odd and branched chain fatty acids; essential amino acids; and calcium, which are all known for their bioactive properties. In addition, the incorporation of probiotics, which are known for their bioactive properties, could further enhance the products’ attributes. However, direct probiotic addition is known to encounter viability challenges during manufacturing and storage. There is thus an opportunity to introduce a value-added range of dairy fat-rich products imparting bioactive and functional benefits. The current review is an attempt to consolidate information in this area and explore further avenues for the value addition of dairy fat-rich products.