ABSTRACT
Milk has been designated as a complete food owing to its nutritional and functional properties. From ages, dairy products have been the basic diet of society and are the main actor in the progress of mankind. The shift in paradigm from just-food to functional foods has led to explore the different components of milk that have certain health benefits. Oligosaccharides (OSs) are not apprehended from this as nutritionally and functionally enriched milk also contains OSs that have been explored in the past few years. Milk of all mammalian species comprises OSs; however, their proportion is very less as compared to that of human milk (HM). An assortment of beneficial effects related to health viz. immune modulation, anti-inflammation, mineral absorption, and the brain development activity have been reported to be conferred by oligosaccharides. The proven health benefits of oligosaccha-rides from human milk (HMOs) have driven the researchers’ focus to a new arena to find out the OSs in other mammalian species in order to harness the functional properties of OSs for masses.
