Lipidomics in milk: recent advances and developments

Lipids are one of the major components of milk. Significant advancement has been achieved in the past few years in identification of molecular species, deep structure elucidation, and accurate quantification methodology of milk lipids. Around 4000 lipid species have been identified so far in bovine milk and progress has also been made in determining the regio-position and double bond location of milk phospholipids. Using multiple standards combined with type 1 and type 2 isotopic correction has proven necessary to ensure the accuracy in lipid quantification. Branched- and odd-chain fatty acids of milk are receiving more attention in recent years owing to their potential benefits for human health. Milk lipidomics has been shown to be a promising technique in biomarker discovery for mastitis and heat stress in dairy cows.