Milk and Dairy products

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for newborn mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother’s antibodies to the baby. It can reduce the risk of many diseases in the baby. Milk contains significant amounts of saturated fat, protein and calcium as well as vitamin C.

Dairy products are generally defined as foodstuffs produced from milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing generally comes from cows, but occasionally from other mammals such as goats, sheep, yaks, or horses. Dairy products are commonly found in European, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine.

Dairy may cause health issues for individuals with lactose intolerance and milk allergies. Vegans and some vegetarians avoid dairy products due to a variety of ethical, dietary, environmental, political, and religious concerns.

In 1908 Russian microbiologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on phagocytosis. Mechnikov developed a theory that aging is caused by toxic bacteria in the gut and that lactic acid could prolong life. Based on his theory, he drank sour milk every day.

Metchnikoff's studies inspired Japanese scientist Minoru Shirota to begin investigating the causal relationship between bacteria and good intestinal health, which eventually led to the worldwide marketing of fermented milk drinks, or probiotics.

Probiotics are dietary supplements of live bacteria or yeasts thought to be healthy for the host organism. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the most common type of microbes used. LAB is used in the food industry because they are able to convert sugars and other carbohydrates into lactic acid. This provides the characteristic sour taste of fermented dairy foods and, by lowering the pH, may create fewer opportunities for spoilage organisms to grow.

There are such bacteria as Lactobacilli. Some Lactobacillus species are used industrially for the production of yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, pickles, beer, wine, cider, kimchi, chocolate, and other fermented foods.

Practice 1. Re-read the text and answer the questions:

1. What animals does milk come from?

2. Can milk cause allergies?

3. What did Ilya Mechnikov find out?

4. What are the features of lactic acid?

Practice 2. Give the Russian equivalents to the word-combinations from the text:

-female mammals

-primary source of nutrition

-reduce the risk

-saturated fat

-dairy products

-high-energy-yielding food

-production plant

-raw milk

-health issues

-lactose intolerance

-sour milk

-intestinal health

-dietary supplements

-fermented foods

Practice 3. Match up the words on the left with the definitions on the right:

1. disease 2. fat 3. plant 4. cuisine 5. environment 6. vegetarian 7. to avoid 8. to convert

a. to stay away from someone or something b. illness of people, animals, plants, etc c. a factory in which machines are used d. to change in form, character, or opinion e. the air, water and land in or on which people, animals and plants live f. the substance under the skin of humans and animals that stores energy and keeps them warm g. a style of cooking h. a person who does not eat meat

Practice 4. Complete the sentences using the words from the table:

substance sheep cows sour goats nutrition rawcuisine

1. Lactose is a ______ that is found most notably in milk.

2. ________is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life.

3. Fermented dairy products have their own characteristic _______ taste.

4. A brownie or chocolate brownie came from American _________.

5. ______ milk for processing generally comes from____, but sometimes from other mammals such as _______ or _______.

Practice 5. Complete the table: