A One-health approach: from feed to functionalized food

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Peric Tanja

Modern animal husbandry is increasing its focus in looking for eco-sustainable farming systems without neglecting the dairy yield and nutritional quality of milk and derivatives. The growing attention of the consumer towards products with nutraceutical properties, more sustainable and respectful of animal welfare represents an objective to be achieved. Appropriate measures aimed at improving both welfare and feeding techniques have already influenced the qualitative and functional characteristics of buffalo milk. It has been seen that betainized compounds present in the diet and/or produced by gut bacteria may provide a key approach to guide the use of dietary management for type 2 diabets (T2D).
This project aims to evaluate the efficacy in vitro and in vivo of functionalized buffalo milk in reducing the dysfunction of patients with T2D. In particular, the investigation on different metabolic hormones, sexual hormones and hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and their threshold values could provide also precious information regarding the allostatic load and the patient’s coping ability with different stressors linked to the pathology and diet restrictions.