A comprehensive review on health benefits, nutritional composition and processed products of camel milk

Camel milk has been regarded as a potential nutritional and therapeutic food source across various arid and semi-arid regions. Camel milk composition is comparable to cow milk with predominant medium-chain fatty acids in fat, low lactose, and abundant vitamin C and iron. Consumption of camel milk and its products are presumed to be associated with antidiabetic, anti-cancerous, anti-hypertensive and many other health benefiting properties. Different in vitro and in vivo studies on camel milk have revealed various underlying mechanisms such as presence of bioactive proteins (lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, lactoperoxidases, etc.) as well as generation of various bioactive peptides upon digestion as possible scientific rationale for its health benefiting properties. Camel milk is currently processed into different fermented and non-fermented products, however, major commercially important products processed from bovine milk (yogurt and cheese) has not been processed successfully from camel milk till date. Therapeutic values of camel milk offer an extra advantage for its utilization in production of different functional food products. As such this review aims to present detailed compositional analysis, status of various feasible products from camel milk and the comprehensive discussion on the various health beneficial properties associated with camel milk and its components.