Diet, rumen biohydrogenation and nutritional quality of cow and goat milk fatThe potential to modify the milk fatty acid (FA) composition by changing the cow or goat diets is reviewed. Ruminal biohydrogenation (RBH), combined with mammary lipogenic and D-9 desaturation pathways, considerably modifies the profile of dietary FA and thus milk composition. The pasture has major effects by decreasing saturated FA and increasing FA considered as favorable for human health (c9-18:1, 18:3n-3 and c9t11-CLA), compared to winter diets, especially those based on maize silage and concentrates. Plant lipid supplements have effects similar to pasture, especially linseed, but they increase to a larger extent, simultaneously several trans isomers of 18:1 and, conjugated or non-conjugated 18:2, especially when added to maize silage or concentrate-rich diets. The goat responds better for milk 18:3n-3 and c9t11-CLA, and sometimes less for c9-18:1, and is less prone to the RBH trans-11 to trans-10 shift, which has been shown to be time dependent in the cow. The respective physiological roles of most milk trans FA have not been studied to date, and more studies in rodents and humans fed dairy products modified by changing ruminant diet are required before recommending a larger use of lipid sources and how to combine them with the different feeding systems used by dairy farmers.Keywords: Diet composition, biohydrogenation intermediates, mammary metabolism, fatty acid desaturation, milk fatty acids. 828 DOI 10.1002/ejlt.200700080 Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 109 (2007
IntroductionMilk fat secretion and milk fatty acid (FA) composition are of great interest with regard to human nutrition. Apart from their contribution to dairy products' sensorial quality and to the amount of dietary energy, different lipid and FA compounds (short-and medium-chain saturated, branched, mono-and polyunsaturated, cis and trans, conjugated FA, etc.) present in ruminant milk fat are indeed potentially positive or negative factors for the health of consumers [1][2][3].Dairy products provide indeed 25-60% of the overall saturated fat consumption in Europe, which makes them, since decades, a target of dieticians' criticism due to the negative effects of excessive consumption of saturated FA on human health [4]. The image of saturated FA should, however, be weighed by the fact that C 12 -C 16 saturated FA are thought to be atherogenic only when consumed in excessive amounts, that 18:0 has no atherogenic effect and that saturated fat could even be protective when compared to a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet [5,6]. The allegedly atherogenic effect of certain trans monounsaturated FA (MUFA) [7] has not been confirmed for vaccenic acid (t11-18:1), the main isomer present in milk [8,9]. The intake of some trans isomers of 18:2 seems to be particularly harmful, although further research is needed to discriminate between industrial and ruminant isomer profiles [10]. In other respects, it has been shown in humans that the consumption of milk fat [11] could sometimes d...