Influence of Interesterification of a Stearic Acid‐Rich Spreadable Fat on Acute Metabolic Risk Factors

Abstract

Chemical and enzymatic interesterification are used to create spreadable fats. However, a comparison between the two processes in terms of their acute metabolic effects has not yet been investigated. A randomised crossover study in obese (plasma TAG > 1.69 mmol/L, and BMI > 30 (BMI = kg/m(2)) or waist circumference > 102 cm, n = 11, age = 59.3 +/- 1.8 years) and non-obese (plasma triacylglycerol (TAG) < 1.69 mmol/L, and BMI < 30 or waist circumference < 102 cm, n = 10, age = 55.8 +/- 2.2 years) men was undertaken to compare the effects of chemical versus enzymatic interesterification on postprandial risk factors for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). TAG, cholesterol, glucose, insulin and free fatty acid concentrations were measured for 6 h following consumption of 1 g fat/kg body mass of non-interesterified (NIE), chemically interesterified (CIE), enzymatically interesterified (EIE) stearic acid-rich fat spread or no fat, each with 50 g available carbohydrate from white bread. Interesterification did not affect postprandial glucose, insulin, free fatty acids or cholesterol (P > 0.05). Following ingestion of NIE, increases in serum oleic acid were observed, whereas both oleic and stearic acids were increased with CIE and EIE (P < 0.05). While postprandial TAG concentrations in non-obese subjects were not affected by fat treatment (P > 0.05), obese subjects had an 85% increase in TAGs with CIE versus NIE (P < 0.05). The differences in TAG response between non-obese and obese subjects suggest that interesterification may affect healthy individuals differently compared to those already at risk for T2D and/or CVD.

Effects of triacylglycerol structure and solid fat content on fasting responses of mice

“…Randomization is the fatty acyl group's rearrangement among the three positions within the same fat, whereas interesterification is the same fundamental reaction between two or more different fats. Limited studies on human subjects seem to suggest that randomization does not affect fasting lipemia responses [6], but conclusions are inconsistent with regard to postprandial responses [7,8]. Evaluation of metabolic and health effects of randomized or interesterified fats is very important for application of randomized fats in food industry.…”

“…However, partial hydrogenation produces trans fats, which have adverse effects on human health. Randomization and interesterification reactions using fully hydrogenated fat as feedstock do not introduce trans structure, and thus, they are alternative processing means to partial hydrogenation [6,7] in producing semisolid fats. However, randomization or interesterification changes fatty acid positional distribution and the metabolic consequences need to be more thoroughly understood.…”

“…Since the metabolic pathway of fatty acids at the sn-2 position of the TAG is different from fatty acids at the sn-1,3 positions, TAGs with more saturated fatty acids at the sn-2 position may have different fat absorption [9,10], chylomicron clearance [3,11,12], fatty acid composition of very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) [13], lipemia response [7,8], sn-2 fatty acid composition of tissue TAG [14] compared to TAGs with more saturated fatty acids at the sn-1,3 positions. In addition, TAGs high in solid fat content at body temperature may be emulsified less readily, resulting in a slower increase in lipemia response compared to TAGs low in solid fat content [6].…”

Efeito das gorduras interesterificadas sobre o desenvolvimento da lesão aterosclerótica em camundongos knockout para o receptor de LDL

“…Já em obesos, esse tipo de interesterificação aumentou a concentração pós-prandial de triglicérides (85%), fato não observado em indivíduos eutróficos (Robinson et al, 2009). Juntos, esses dados sugerem que a interesterificação pode afetar indivíduos saudáveis de maneira diferente daqueles que já têm risco de desenvolver DCV e diabetes mellitus tipo 2.…”

“…A maior parte dos estudos sobre a ação das gorduras interesterificadas avaliou o seu efeito sobre as concentrações plasmáticas de lípides (Nestel et al, 1995;Yli-Jokipii et al, 2001;Sundram, Karupaiah & Hayes, 2007;Robinson et al, 2009;Sanders et al, 2011) e poucos sobre a lesão aterosclerótica (Kritchevsky et al, 1998a;Kritchevsky et al, 1998b;Kritchevsky et al, 2000).…”