Enhancement of Calcium Bioavailability in Dairy-Plant Hybrid Foods: Formulation, Physical, and Biological Approaches

Background The growing demand for health-conscious diets has increased interest in combining dairy and plant proteins, referred to as dairy-plant hybrid food systems. These hybrid systems offer significant potential for improving calcium intake, which is often inadequate from plant-based diets. However, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of calcium in such complex matrices remain a critical challenge due to interactions between proteins, minerals, and other food components. Despite growing interest in hybrid foods, studies addressing calcium bioaccessibility in these systems remain limited. Scope and approach This review offers a comprehensive analysis of calcium bioaccessibility and bioavailability in dairy-plant hybrid systems, with an emphasis on factors influencing calcium bioaccessibility and bioavailability, as well as formulation, physical and biological processing strategies that can enhance calcium bioavailability of these systems. Furthermore, current challenges and future perspectives in hybrid product development, including nutritional advancement with respect to calcium, are discussed. Key findings and conclusions The bioaccessibility and bioavailability of calcium in plant proteins are limited by several factors (e.g., molecular interactions, processing technologies, chemical form of calcium, and delivery matrices). Special attention has been directed toward formulation approaches (e.g., calcium fortification, micronization, solid dispersion emulsification, and incorporation of hydrolyzed proteins/peptides), physical (e.g., milling, cooking, extrusion, direct steam injection, pulsed electric fields, high-pressure homogenization), and biological approaches (e.g., germination, fermentation, and enzyme treatment) with a focus on enhancing calcium bioaccessibility and bioavailability. Addressing key challenges (e.g., casein network formation, poor structural and physicochemical stability) is required for advancing dairy-plant hybrid systems with enhanced calcium bioaccessibility and bioavailability.