Antimutagenicity of components of dairy products

This paper reports the potential antimutagenicity of some components of dairy products. For both milk and fermented milk, Bifidobacterium sp. Bio (strain Danone 173010), casein and calcium showed a dose-dependent antimutagenic activity against benzo[a]pyrene mutagenicity in the Ames test using Salmonella typhimurium TA98. Fatty compounds present in milk had no antimutagenic effect. At the level occurring in cultured or uninoculated milks, and even more, the bifidobacteria, casein and calcium showed less antimutagenic activity than fermented and uninoculated milks. So, the mix of all these components must contribute to the total protective effect of dairy products against induced mutagenicity, and this does not rule out the possibility of contribution of other unknown substances. The total antimutagenicity of uninoculated skim milk corresponds to the additional activity of casein and calcium. The observed antimutagenic activity of fermented skim milk remains lower than expected.