Dairy foods form an essential part of the diet across the world. They are a good source of essential amino and fatty acids, calcium phosphate, sugar, and fat content, and thus are considered a good energy source as well. Dairy products are primarily available in liquid, solids, and semi-solids form. Cheese, one of the most widely consumed dairy products, is available in solid and semi-solid form. During cheese manufacturing, milk undergoes various structural changes (liquid to solid state), depending on factors such as the pH, temperature, and protein-to-fat ratio, all of which can affect their texture, and structure of dairy products. The digestion of foods in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of the human body is a complex process involving oral, gastric, and intestinal phases. In the oral phase, the chewing action converts larger chunks into smaller particles in the presence of saliva while in the gastric and intestinal phase, the presence of proteolytic enzymes assists in breakdown of food proteins. The digestibility and release of nutrients from proteins in the gastro-intestinal phase is affected by the structure, texture and composition of the consumed products. The type of protein present in the dairy products also impacts the rate of release of nutrients in the digestive tract. For example, whey proteins get digested faster than caseins; similarly, coagulated protein digests slowly compared with soluble proteins. Simulating the oral phase as well as the gastrointestinal digestion provides useful insights, specifically of the protein breakdown in dairy products, thus helping in designing novel food products with different rates of release of nutrients to suit specific physiological condition. This is particularly helpful for people that are lacking essential nutrients as well as athletes needing a quick pick-me-up after an energy intensive workout. Speaker: Prateek Sharma, PhD