Milk is a natural, colloidal system in which fat is found in the interior of small, spherical droplets, formerly known as fat globules. The chemical composition of milk lipids in mammals varies and is affected by various factors such as feeding, breed and others. This book studies the composition, nutritional value and health implications of milk fat. Topics include milk composition disturbance and animal organism dysfunction caused by aflatoxins; size characterisation of fat globules in dairy products by field flow fractionation; dairy system impacts on milk fat composition related to human health; and milk fat globules' microstructure.

Milk is the only food mammals produce naturally to feed their offspring. The human species is the only one that takes milk from other animals and consumes it beyond weaning age. Cultures of Milk contrasts the practices of the world's two leading milk producers, India and the United States. In both countries, milk is considered to have special qualities. Drawing on ethnographic and scientific studies, popular media, and government reports, Andrea Wiley reveals that the cultural significance of milk goes well beyond its nutritive value. Shifting socioeconomic and political factors influence how people perceive the importance of milk and how much they consume. In India, where milk is out of reach for many, consumption is rising rapidly among the urban middle class. But milk drinking is declining in America, despite the strength of the dairy industry. Milk is bound up in discussions of food scarcity in India and food abundance in the United States. Promotion of milk as a means to enhance child growth boosted consumption in twentieth-century America and is currently doing the same in India, where average height is low. Wiley considers how variation among populations in the ability to digest lactose and ideas about how milk affects digestion influence the type of milk and milk products consumed. In India, most milk comes from buffalo, but cows have sacred status for Hindus. In the United States, cow's milk has long been a privileged food, but is now facing competition from plant-based milk.

Milk is nature's most complete food, and dairy products are considered to be the most nutritious foods of all. The traditional view of the role of milk has been greatly expanded in recent years beyond the horizon of nutritional subsistence of infants: it is now recognized to be more than a source of nutrients for the healthy growth of children and nourishment of adult humans. Alongside its major proteins (casein and whey), milk contains biologically active compounds, which have important physiological and biochemical functions and significant impacts upon human metabolism, nutrition and health. Many of these compounds have been proven to have beneficial effects on human nutrition and health. This comprehensive reference is the first to address such a wide range of topics related to milk production and human health, including: mammary secretion, production, sanitation, quality standards and chemistry, as well as nutrition, milk allergies, lactose intolerance, and the bioactive and therapeutic compounds found in milk. In addition to cow's milk, the book also covers the milk of non-bovine dairy species which is of economic importance around the world. The Editors have assembled a team of internationally renowned experts to contribute to this exhaustive volume which will be essential reading for dairy scientists, nutritionists, food scientists, allergy specialists and health professionals.