Advances in Low-Lactose/Lactose-Free Dairy Products and Their Production

Abstract

With increasing health awareness worldwide, lactose intolerance has become a major concern of consumers, creating new market opportunities for low-lactose/lactose-free dairy foods. In recent years, through innovating processes and technologies, dairy manufacturers have significantly improved the variety, and functional and sensory qualities of low-lactose and lactose-free dairy products. Based on this, this paper first covers the pathology and epidemiology of lactose intolerance and market trends. Then, we focus on current advantages and disadvantages of different lactose hydrolysis technologies and improvements in these technologies to enhance nutritional value, and functional, sensory, and quality properties of lactose-free dairy products. We found that more and more cutting-edge technologies are being applied to the production of lactose-free dairy products, and that these technologies greatly improve the quality and production efficiency of lactose-free dairy products. Hopefully, our review can provide a theoretical basis for the marketing expansion and consumption guidance for low-lactose/lactose-free dairy products.

Lactase Deficiency and Lactose Intolerance: Current Understanding and Future Directions

“…Most patients with lactose intolerance do not experience adverse symptoms after consuming 5 grams of lactose at a time, and lactose tolerance can increase when consumed with other nutrients. Various options are available on the food market for people with lactose intolerance, including both naturally lactose-free products and those produced using lactose hydrolysis processes [19,27].…”

Simultaneous fermentation and enzymatic biocatalysis—a useful process option?

“…However, a lower enzyme concentration of 0.5 g L −1 also led to a high lactose conversion of 97.9%, but as the enzyme activity is not specified, comparison is difficult. Almost all products of simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis in Table 3 qualify as low-lactose products as they contain less than 1 g lactose per 100 g of yoghurt [ 36 ]. The low-lactose products can also compete with traditionally fermented products in terms of flavour and consistency [ 31 , 54 ].…”

A catalytic membrane approach as a way to obtain sweet and unsweet lactose-free milk

“…One of the easiest ways to deal with lactose intolerance is its elimination from the daily diet by replacing traditional dairy with lactose-free (L-F) products. Nowadays, L-F-labeled dairy products are perceived as functional foods, substitutes for whole milk, and a low-cost dietary source of calcium with a wide range of availability [ 4 , 5 ].…”

“…In recent years, there has been growing interest in finding technologies that provide nutritional value and functional, sensory, and quality properties of L-F dairy products [ 4 ]. Among the existing methods for removing lactose from food are membrane separation, fermentation, and enzymatic hydrolysis.…”

“…Among the existing methods for removing lactose from food are membrane separation, fermentation, and enzymatic hydrolysis. The last one has gained high popularity in industrial technologies [ 4 , 6 ]. It is the result of high specificity and relatively low cost of bioconversion (especially in the case of immobilized preparations) [ 7 ].…”