The identification of molecular biomarkers that can be used to quantitatively link dietary intake to phenotypic traits in humans is a key theme in modern nutritional research. Although dairy products (with and without fermentation) represent a major food group, the identification of markers of their intake lags behind that of other food groups. Here, we report the results from an analysis of the metabolites in postprandial serum and urine samples from a randomized crossover study with 14 healthy men who ingested acidified milk, yogurt, and a non-dairy meal. Our study confirms the potential of lactose and its metabolites as markers of lactose-containing dairy foods and the dependence of their combined profiles on the fermentation status of the consumed products. Furthermore, indole-3-lactic acid and 3-phenyllactic acid are two products of fermentation whose postprandial behaviour strongly discriminates yogurt from milk intake. Our study also provides evidence of the ability of milk fermentation to increase the acute delivery of free amino acids to humans. Notably, 3,5-dimethyloctan-2-one also proves to be a specific marker for milk and yogurt consumption, as well as for cheese consumption (previously published data). These molecules deserve future characterisation in human interventional and observational studies.
Keywords: dairy; fermentation; healthy men; metabolomics; milk; nutrivolatilomics; postprandial; yogurt.