Milk Fat Globule Membranes for Mental Health across the Human Lifespan
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1. It is recommended to add a table of the composition of MFGM and the content of each component.
2. Microbial species names should be in italics, such as line 161 on page 4
3. MFGM’s suggested drawings and illustrations of support mechanisms for improving mental health
4. It is recommended to tabulate the animal or human experiments and their results in Parts 3-5.
5. The conclusion is too long, it is recommended to compress and refine it.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer Comments
We would like to thank the Reviewers for their comments and suggestions. We have made changes to the manuscript accordingly. Detailed responses to each comment are provided below.
Reviewer 1
- It is recommended to add a table of the composition of MFGM and the content of each component.
Response: The focus of this review is on the application of MFGM for mental health which is where the manuscript makes a unique contribution to the current literature Several excellent reviews exist covering the composition of MFGM in detail. We have added a new reference to this section of the paper to direct readers towards the review by Lopez et al on the composition and properties of MFGM. Further, the manuscript references the paper by Pan et al. 2023 published in Foods last year which covers this topic in detail should readers wish to read more on the composition of MFGM. Finally, we have now included a figure in this section to expand the explanation of MFGM components for the reader.
- Microbial species names should be in italics, such as line 161 on page 4
Response: Thank you for identifying this, we have now corrected microbial names throughout the paper so they appear in italics.
- MFGM’s suggested drawings and illustrations of support mechanisms for improving mental health
Response: The mechanisms by which MFGM affect mental health are still to be fully elucidated. Further, these mechanisms are likely to differ according to the stage of life-course development making them difficult to portray in a figure. For this reason, we have opted not to include a diagram for the review but instead provide readers with an overview in the text and recent references.
- It is recommended to tabulate the animal or human experiments and their results in Parts 3-5.
Response: We chose not to tabulate the studies in parts 3 to 5 of the manuscript because this paper is a narrative review rather than a systematic review. Tabulating the studies would duplicate what is currently present in the manuscript and would potentially mislead readers by suggesting the review was systematic.
- The conclusion is too long, it is recommended to compress and refine it.
Response: We have reviewed the conclusion and refined it to be more concise. The conclusion is now two succinct paragraphs.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI attached revision as a separate document
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer Comments
We would like to thank the Reviewers for their comments and suggestions. We have made changes to the manuscript accordingly. Detailed responses to each comment are provided below.
Reviewer 2
The manuscript is interesting and with the thematic scope of the special issue “Food Lipids — Chemistry, Nutrition and Biotechnology” in Foods journal. Generally the manuscript was thoroughly prepared with using appropriate (and current) literature citations. I prepared one comment which should be considered by the Authors during revision process.
Comment: The part Milk Fat Globule Membranes is not sufficiently informative and needs supplementation with detailed information about composition MFGM. There is a lack of quantitative information about polar lipids in MFGM and their properties. This part needs substantial supplementation. Also some information about factors influenced MFGM should be included and about food sources require significant expansion. Please also consider about supplementing table and chart which may gather more readers in the future.
Response: We have added to this section to provide further information about the composition of MFGM. Specifically, we have included information about compositional differences in polar lipid composition of MFGM according to source and directed the reader to the paper by Lopez et al. 2019 who provide a detailed analysis of the composition of MFGM constituents. Further in line 51 we reference the paper by Pan et al. 2023 published in Foods that provides a review of the bioactive properties of lipids found in MFGM. Line 47 describes the common dairy sources of MFGM and highlights that bovine milk is the primary source of MFGM products in industry.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsComments and Suggestions for Authors
“Milk fat globule membranes for mental health across the lifespan”. This study reviews a general overview of the important role of MFGM in mental health at different growth stages. However, the article may not have given clear guidance on where to go from here. There are some comments that the authors should address:
Line 45: “such as homogenisation”. What are the differences in MFGM obtained by homogenisation and can the authors elaborate further?
Line 91: “We review the relevant literature on milk fat globule membranes for mental health...”. “We” might be more appropriately replaced by “This article”.
Line 104-106: “We review recent pre-clinical and clinical literature about potential mechanisms by which MFGM may improve mental health followed by use of MFGM or phospholipids at key life stages. Finally, we discuss research directions to further knowledge of the application of MFGM for improving mental health.”
“We” might be more appropriately replaced by “This article”.
Line 74: Could the authors provide a brief overview of current mainstream treatments for mental illness, which might be more beneficial to the reader's understanding.
Line 113-115: “Studies on the relationship between diet and adolescent depression suggest that intake of milk and dairy products reduces after childhood”
Could the authors further explain the relationship between reduced milk and dairy products intake and depression?
Line 206: “[74]”, too many blank spaces.
Line 384: “We present a review of the current pre-clinical and human research on the role of MFGM in mental health”
“We” might be more appropriately replaced by “This article”.
Throughout the article, few words appear with a “-” in between. Please check.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer Comments
We would like to thank the Reviewers for their comments and suggestions. We have made changes to the manuscript accordingly. Detailed responses to each comment are provided below.
Reviewer 3
“Milk fat globule membranes for mental health across the lifespan”. This study reviews a general overview of the important role of MFGM in mental health at different growth stages. However, the article may not have given clear guidance on where to go from here. There are some comments that the authors should address:
Line 45: “such as homogenisation”. What are the differences in MFGM obtained by homogenisation and can the authors elaborate further?
Response: We have added more detail about the effects of standard and high pressure homogenisation of milk and butter milk on the composition of MFGM.
Line 91: “We review the relevant literature on milk fat globule membranes for mental health...”. “We” might be more appropriately replaced by “This article”.
Line 104-106: “We review recent pre-clinical and clinical literature about potential mechanisms by which MFGM may improve mental health followed by use of MFGM or phospholipids at key life stages. Finally, we discuss research directions to further knowledge of the application of MFGM for improving mental health.”
“We” might be more appropriately replaced by “This article”.
Response: We have now replaced the use of the word ‘We” with “This article” as suggested by the Reviewer.
Line 74: Could the authors provide a brief overview of current mainstream treatments for mental illness, which might be more beneficial to the reader's understanding.
Response: we have now added to the manuscript to add that antidepressant medication Is the standard treatment for Major Depressive Disorder. Further, we have provided a reference that discusses the debate about efficacy of these medications thereby providing a rationale for investigation of novel, safe, interventions.
Line 113-115: “Studies on the relationship between diet and adolescent depression suggest that intake of milk and dairy products reduces after childhood”
Could the authors further explain the relationship between reduced milk and dairy products intake and depression?
Response: The article already states that consumption of dairy products is associated with a decreased risk of depression and that a high quality diet is associated with reduced depression. The exact mechanisms behind dairy product consumption and mental health in adolescents are not yet understood and are likely to be the result of multiple dietary factors. For these reasons we believe the article already informs the readers that dairy product consumption has been associated with reduced depression providing references if readers wish to delve further into this aspect of nutrition.
Line 206: “[74]”, too many blank spaces.
Response: blank spaces have been deleted.
Line 384: “We present a review of the current pre-clinical and human research on the role of MFGM in mental health”
“We” might be more appropriately replaced by “This article”.
Response: we have replaced the word “We” with “This Article” as suggested by the Reviewer.
Throughout the article, few words appear with a “-” in between. Please check.
Response: The use of hyphens in the article are due to the journal template formatting requirements which we are not able to change.
