Tea (Camellia sinensis) is widely considered to promote feelings of calming and soothing. This effect is attributed to L-theanine (L-γ-glutamylethylamide) in tea, a non-protein amino acid mainly derived from tea leaves. As a naturally occurring structural analogue of glutamate, L-theanine competes for the receptors with glutamate and is able to pass the blood-brain barrier to exert its relaxation effect. This review focuses on the relaxation effect of L-theanine, including animal models and the latest human trials as well as the potential molecular mechanisms regarding neuron stem cells. The biological efficacy of dietary L-theanine in the food matrix has been further discussed in this review in relation to the physiological changes in the gastrointestinal tract and bindings of L-theanine with other food components.

Phospholipids are important ingredients in milk. They serve as bioactive components with processing functionalities, despite representing only a small proportion of total milk lipids. There has been increasing interest in vesicle properties and health effects of milk phospholipids. However, there are limited reports on industry-scale manufacturing of related commercial products. This contribution aims to elucidate the industrial processes of manufacturing milk phospholipid products including phospholipid extraction and fraction as well as summarizing determination assays of milk phospholipids. In addition to industrial production, this review elaborates on application aspects, such as the biological properties of milk phospholipids and their technical importance as delivery vesicles of liposomes and phytosomes. In addition, new insights on large-scale production of milk phospholipids and new applications such as phytosomes and antioxidant properties are discussed.