Digestibility of cocoa butter from chocolate in humans: a comparison with corn-oil

Abstract

Objective: To compare, in humans, the digestibility of moderate amounts of cocoa butter (30.7 gad) consumed in the form of chocolate as part of a normal western diet with that of a well-absorbed fat (corn oil); and hence determine whether, by virtue of its apparent low absorption, cocoa butter can be considered to be a low calorie fat. Design: Randomised, two-period crossover metabolic study, conducted under free-living conditions, but with strict control over food intake. Setting: Metabolic Unit, Nestle  Research Center Lausanne. Subjects: Twelve healthy men were selected from volunteers at the Nestle  Research Center and all subjects completed the study. Intervention: Two treatment periods of two weeks each: cocoa butter and control periods, with strict dietary control separated by a two week wash out period. Results: No differences (P b 0.05) were observed in faecal weight (wet or dry), faecal fat nor in defecation frequency between treatments (cocoa butter and corn oil). Cocoa butter at a dose of 30.7 gad in the form of black chocolate, consumed between two meals, was found to have a similar digestibility to that of corn oil (99 % of corn oil digestibility). Conclusion: Cocoa butter, consumed as black chocolate within a normal mixed diet, has a high digestibility, similar to that of corn oil, and a digestible energy value of 37 kJag in man. Thus, cocoa butter cannot be considered to be a low-calorie fat.

Influence of triacylglycerol structure of stearic acid-rich fats on postprandial lipaemia

“…However, more recent human studies have reported that 18 : 0-rich fats are generally well absorbed (>90%), especially when fed with other dietary fats; for example, cocoa butter is relatively well absorbed, with digestibility values of 89-99% (Mitchell et al 1989;Denke & Grundy, 1991;Shahkhalili et al 2000). More variable results have, however, been obtained with randomised fats rich in 18: 0.…”

Triacylglycerol structure and interesterification of palmitic and stearic acid-rich fats: an overview and implications for cardiovascular disease

“…Others have also reported stearic acid to be well digested whether distributed in the sn-1 and sn-3 positions of the dietary TAG (49) or as a randomly interesterified stearic acid-rich fat (46,50 -52) . Human studies have also shown that the digestibility of palmitic acid is high in human subjects when in the outer positions (47,48) , or randomly distributed on all three positions of the glycerol (51) .…”

“…Shahkhalili et al (48) reported that following cocoa butter or maize oil (31 g/d) fed to male subjects for 2 weeks, there was no difference in the faecal fat excretion (mean 4·55 g/d) and digestibility relative to maize oil (99 %), although the proportion of stearic acid in the faeces during the cocoa butter period (1·9 g/d) was higher than during the maize oil period (41 v. 27 % respectively), but was compensated for by a decrease in the proportion of other faecal fatty acids (48) . Denke & Grundy (47) observed that following diets rich in beef tallow, native cocoa butter, butter fat and olive oil (23·6, 40·9, 12·4 and 3·7 g stearic acid/d respectively) using liquid formulated diets containing 40 % of energy from the test fat in ten male subjects for 3 weeks, the level of stearic acid excreted from beef tallow, native cocoa butter, butter fat and olive oil was within the usual range (1·4, 3·1, 1·2 and 1·2 g/d respectively), despite differences in the position of stearic acid in the dietary TAG.…”

Stearic acid is well absorbed from short- and long-acyl-chain triacylglycerol in an acute test meal

“…Crude fat excretion of healthy men on various experimental diets (based mostly on natural triacylglycerols or their transesterified products) has generally varied between 4 and 12 g/day (Carey et al, 1983;Mitchell et al, 1989;Shahkhalili et al, 2000). The proportion of fatty acids (free, soaps or derived from acylglycerols) of the total lipids has rarely been reported, but the fatty acid concentration in feces has been between 0.2 and 6 g/day (Bonanome and Grundy, 1988;Denke et al, 1993), typically 2-4 g/day (see e.g.…”