Human Milk Fat Substitute from Butterfat: Production by Enzymatic Interesterification and Evaluation of Oxidative Stability

Abstract

Recent data have suggested that the fatty acid composition and molecular structure of fats in infant formulas should be as similar to human milk fat as possible to obtain optimal fat and calcium absorption from the infant formula. This work investigated the possibilities of using enzyme technology and butterfat as a material to produce a fat similar to human milk fat with respect to the above parameters. Moreover, the oxidative stability of the enzyme modified human milk fat substitute (HMFS) was compared to the fat blend used for the production of HMFS. Using a combination of enzyme technology, fractionation and batch deodorization and with butterfat in combination with soybean oil and rapeseed oil as raw materials it was possible to produce HMFS with a molecular structure and fatty acid composition that was very similar to that of human milk fat. The oxidative stability of the HMFS oil was lower than that of the reference oil with the same fatty acid composition. However, oxidation did not lead to a severe increase in rancidity scores during storage. Rather, the panel gave high intensity scores for other off-flavors such as burnt and bitter. Further optimization of the deodorization process is therefore necessary to remove these off-flavors.

Application of the calorimetric and spectroscopic methods in analytical evaluation of the human milk fat substitutes

“…Milk fat is a natural product from the dairy industry. Even though its composition and structure are significantly different from HMF, milk fat has a lot in common with mother's milk fat in terms of content of MUFA and minor fatty acids such as conjugate linoleic acid [2,32]. In order to enrich TAG derived from MF or L in PUFA, the enzymatic interesterification was used.…”

“…In general, most studies have reported a decrease in oxidative stability of SL like HMFS compared to the initial fats [6,40]. Sørensen et al [32] have reported that the oxidative stability of the HMFS obtained from interesterified mixture of milk fat, rapeseed oil, and soybean oil was lower than that of the reference oil with the same fatty acid composition. Therefore, the unsaturated fatty acids in HMFS can be oxidized into hydroperoxides (primary oxidation products), which can then be rapidly decomposed to secondary oxidation products such as alkanes, alkenes, aldehydes, and ketones.…”

Production of human milk fat substitute with medium-chain fatty acids by lipase-catalyzed acidolysis: Optimization by response surface methodology

“…Human milk fat provides a major source of energy as well as the required nutrients (Yang, Xu, He, & Li, 2003). The studies conducting fatty acid composition and distribution in triacylglycerols (TAGs) in infant formulas resulted in the development of human milk fat substitutes to mimic milk fat composition (Sahin, Akoh, & Karaali, 2005;Sørensen, Xu, Zhang, Kristensen, & Jacobsen, 2009;Yang et al, 2003). Human milk fat substitutes have been developed by producing structured lipids defined as modified TAGs.…”

“…Structured lipids contain mixture of fatty acids (short, medium and long fatty acids) located in same glycerol backbone. Enzymatic or chemical interesterifications are utilized to produce structured lipids (Sørensen et al, 2009). Vegetable oils (palm, soybean, hazelnut and amaranth oil), lard, butter and tripalmitin have been used as substrate to produce human milk fat substitutes.…”

Production of triacylglycerols rich in palmitic acid at sn-2 position by lipase-catalyzed acidolysis

“…Thus, for example, Yang et al [23] obtained TAGs with 71% PA at sn-2 position and 44% oleic acid at sn-1,3 positions, by acidolysis of lard and free fatty acids from soybean oil; this reaction was carried out at 61 ºC and using Lipozyme RM IM as 1,3 specific lipase. Sorensen et al [24] also produced TAGs with a molecular structure and fatty acid composition very similar to that of human milk fat, by acidolysis of butterfat and a mixture of rapeseed and soybean oil fatty acids, catalyzed by Lipozyme RM IM, at 65·ºC; these TAGs contained 46-56% PA at sn-2 position and 31-35% oleic acid of total fatty acids. After the acidolysis reaction these TAGs were purified by short path distillation and, therefore, also in absence of solvent.…”