Cheese is a rich source of essential nutrients; in particular, proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals. In addition to their nutritional role, cheese components are also able to exert important health benefits, with calcium, fatty acids and bioactive peptides being the main players. This chapter presents an updated revision on the health effects of cheese components focusing on the most studied bioactive peptides activities. They are liberated during cheese ripening, where casein is hydrolyzed by

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... roteases and peptidases from milk, rennet, starter culture, and secondary microbial flora. Some of the generated peptides can survive gastrointestinal digestion or serve as precursors from the final peptide form, responsible of a wide array of biological activities such as antihypertensive, antioxidant, antimicrobial or opioid. In the chapter, the degree of evidence reached for the bioactive components described, as well as the bioavailability studies performed in each case are also discussed.