Milk components and their derivatives are a rich source of bioactive substances and play a central role in the development of functional foods. Many scientific evidences have shown that milk proteins have a biological health-promoting functionality. However, in recent times, dairy calcium and growth factors derived from milk have been misunderstood to cause diseases such as osteoporosis or cancer. This review focuses on the importance of milk-derived growth factors and some minor active components and briefly considers the emerging trends of personalized nutrition in future dairy research and development.