Investigations on the Nutritional and Functional Value of the Buffalo Milk

  • Marian MIHAIU University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: bioactive compounds, fatty acids, protein, retinol, tocoferol.

Abstract

Buffalo milk receives an increasing research interest and investment in different countries, mainly due to its attractive nutritional value. The data presented in this study are oriented towards the identification of new compounds in milk with benefic effects on human health, knowing that some of them can have specific biological activity: hypotensive, anti thrombotic, anti oxidative, immune modulating etc. This paper offers useful contributions for the human functional diet, by evaluating the fatty acids percent, the protein, retinol and tocoferol percent from raw milk samples of buffalo and cow milk. The results of this study reveal that the buffalo milk has a higher percent of short chained fatty acids C10 – C14, especially oleic acid, a protein level bigger than at cow and a retinol value of 44 μg/100 g, a concentration superior to cow milk and a quantity of tocoferoli and sphingomieline also higher.