Bioactives are industry’s next opportunity

Consumers are increasingly adopting a personalized nutrition mindset, using wearable technologies and apps that track their food intake, heart rate and sleep patterns — kind of like getting a daily physical.

For them, a food’s nutrition facts panel alone no longer tells the whole story.

The good news is the next frontier in nutrition science goes beyond macronutrients and micronutrients — it explores the complex food matrix and the health effects of bioactives, sometimes referred to as the “dark matter” of food.

Bioactives are compounds in food beyond essential nutrients that have measurable impacts on health. In fact, most compounds in what we eat remain largely unstudied and aren’t tracked in standard food composition databases. Understanding this nutritional “dark matter” is essential if we’re serious about unlocking the full health potential of food.

And for dairy bioactives, the potential could be large.

Thanks to the unique structure of the dairy food matrix — how proteins, fats, minerals and bioactives interact — dairy is well positioned to deliver these compounds in ways that matter. Scientific evidence continues to show that the health benefits of milk, cheese and yogurt are not just due to their individual nutrients, but to the synergy within the whole food.

At National Dairy Council (NDC), we’ve made discovery research — which includes identifying dairy bioactives — a strategic priority. Just a few years ago, only 10% of our nutrition research budget focused on this area; today, it’s 50%. That investment already is leading to innovation. For instance, whey permeate, once seen as byproduct with little value, has now been shown to improve hydration, resulting in the GoodSport beverage.

And NDC is currently running a clinical trial on a beverage made with whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC), designed to deliver choline — a vital nutrient supporting brain health — to postmenopausal women, a population where only 2% meet the recommended intake.

The innovation potential is vast. We can enhance core dairy foods with concentrated bioactives to support gut health or blood pressure. Or we can engineer new functional products for specific needs, like a dairy-based beverage for pre-diabetics or aging adults.

But success requires nutrition science and product development working together. Identifying a bioactive is just step one. Can it be isolated? Will it survive processing? Will it taste good? That’s why cross-functional collaboration among our NDC teams in these spaces is critical.

Dr. Matthew Pikosky is vice president of Nutrition Research for National Dairy Council. He has over 20 years of experience steering and managing the development of scientific research activities, formulating and cultivating key industry alliances and partnerships, and providing the thought leadership to translate nutrition science into actionable and relevant recommendations for a variety of audiences.

In his current role, Dr. Pikosky leads the Consumer Benefits and NHANES research programs at National Dairy Council, the goals of which are to identify and advance the science examining specific consumer-focused benefits of dairy foods and ingredients to support health and wellness positioning and catalyze industry innovation.

Prior to joining the National Dairy Council, Dr. Pikosky served as a Senior Scientist in the Applied Medical Nutrition Science group at Nestlé Health Science and as a Research Physiologist at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition, a master’s degree in exercise physiology, and a Ph.D. in nutrition all from the University of Connecticut where his research focused on defining optimal protein intakes for endurance athletes and physically active children and adults.

For dairy companies, this is more than a health story — it’s a growth strategy. Bioactives may offer a way to differentiate dairy from alternatives, create value-added products and meet the growing personalized nutrition trend.

We’re not reinventing dairy — we’re elevating it. And with continued investment and innovation, dairy bioactives may help keep our industry at the forefront of health and wellness priorities. DF