Nutrition of yak milk fat – Focusing on milk fat globule membrane and fatty acids

Abstract

Yak dairy is highly essential in the livelihoods of Tibetans due to abundance of yak, nutritional and non-dietary purposes in Tibet. The agitating methods in making of butter dislocate milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) resulting in its separation from the fat which then forms butter. This study summarized current discoveries in nutritional compositions of yak MFGM and butter and compared with those from cow, sheep and goat whilst highlighting their health benefits to humans. Here, we found that yak MFGM had highest sphingomyelin and cholesterol levels. Also, yak butter had highest levels of conjugated linoleic acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, vaccenic acid and n-3 LC-PUFA but lowest SFA level. Taken together, we report that these yak products are rich in nutrients which play significant roles in anticancer, anti-obesity and neurodevelopment. This review demonstrated yak MFGM and butter as functional food ingredients that could be used in supplement and infant food developments.