Food chain approach to lowering the saturated fat of milk and dairy products

Abstract

Lactating cow diets were supplemented with high‐oleic acid sunflower oil over two production periods spanning two years, to modify the milk fat, partially replacing saturated fatty acids with cis‐monounsaturated fatty acids. The resulting milk was used for ultrahigh‐temperature milk, butter and Cheddar cheese production, and fatty acid profiles were compared with those of conventionally produced products. Fat from products made with modified milk had lower saturated fatty acids and higher cis‐ and trans‐monounsaturated fatty acid concentrations than that of conventional products. This was consistent over both production periods, demonstrating that this food chain approach could be adopted on a wider scale.

Postprandial Fatty Acid Profile, but Not Cardiometabolic Risk Markers, Is Modulated by Dairy Fat Manipulation in Adults with Moderate Cardiovascular Disease Risk: The Randomized Controlled REplacement of SaturatEd fat in dairy on Total cholesterol (RESET) Study

“…A sequential 2-meal protocol was used to examine the effect of dairy FA manipulation on postprandial endothelial function and cardiometabolic responses. The details of our high-oleic sunflower oil (HOS) dairy-cow feeding strategy, as well as the production, FA profile, and consumer acceptance of the FA-modified milk and dairy products, are published elsewhere ( 16 , 20 ).…”

“…The energy, macronutrient, and FA compositions of the sequential high-fat mixed meals consumed at breakfast and lunch are presented in Table 1 . Nutritional analysis (energy and macronutrient content) of modified and control dairy samples was conducted in duplicate by SGS United Kingdom Ltd. (Ealing, London; ISO 17,025 accredited laboratory), as described elsewhere ( 16 , 20 ). In brief, total fat content was determined by low-resolution proton nuclear magnetic resonance.…”

“…Carbohydrate content was calculated by difference using the Atwater general system ( 22 ). Using a standardized procedure ( 16 ), lipids extracted from the modified and control dairy products were analyzed in triplicate for FA composition by GC (Bruker 350; Bruker), equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID) and 100-m fused silica capillary column (CP-SIL 88; Agilent Technologies). The breakfast test meal consisted of a toasted sandwich prepared with white bread (75 g; Kingsmill; Allied Bakeries UK), Cheddar cheese (32.6 g) and butter (modified: 32.6 g; control: 29.4 g), cornflakes (38 g, Kellogg's UK) served with ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk (195 g), and a milkshake prepared with UHT milk (330 g) and strawberry sauce (19 g; Askeys; Silver Spoon Company UK).…”

“…In a proof-of-concept study, we recently reported that 12-wk intake of SFA-reduced, MUFA-enriched milk, cheese, and butter (∼41 g dairy fat/d) that were FA-modified via a dairy-cow feeding strategy ( 16 ), attenuated the rise in fasting LDL-cholesterol concentrations and had a beneficial effect on FMD, relative to conventional dairy product consumption ( 17 ). As individuals spend up to 18 h/d in the nonfasting state ( 9 , 18 ), there is a clear need to gain an understanding of the postprandial cardiometabolic responses to FA-modified dairy products ( 5 ).…”

The technological challenges of reducing the saturated fat content of foods

“…Technical feasibility of saturated fatty acid and trans fatty acid removal Meat, milk, cheese and butter are currently the largest contributors to SFA and TFA intakes (Bates et al 2016). Changes to the diet of dairy cows, for example, to include high oleic sunflower oil and seeds have been shown to reduce the proportion of SFA in various dairy products from an average of 70.6% to 53.3% of fat, but unfortunately a large proportion of this reduction was brought about by an average increase in TFA from 3.9% to 11.3% of fat (Kliem et al 2019). The high price of high oleic sunflower would also limit widespread commercialisation.…”