Fat composition and nutritional composition based thereon

Abstract

The invention relates to a fat composition and a nutritional composition comprising such fat composition. The nutritional composition is particularly suitable for therapeutic applications in treating gut discomfort and/or constipation as well as in non-therapeutic applications for reducing the intestinal formation of calcium and magnesium fatty acid soaps. The fat composition comprises a mixture of triacylglycerols (TAG) originating from a bovine milk fat source and a vegetable lipid source, said mixture being characterized by: (a) a content of butanoate groups (C4:0) of 0.5-2.8% by weight based on total weight of fatty acid acyl groups in TAG; (b) a wLCSFA(sn-1,3) of 18.0-35.0% by weight; (c) a mLCFA (sn-1,3) of 48.0-61.0 mol %; and (d) a ratio mLCFA (sn-1,3)/SFA of 0.70-1.25, wherein: LCFA(sn-1,3) are the long chain fatty acid acyl groups having a chain length of 12 or more carbon atoms at the sn-1 and sn-3 position in TAG; LCSFA(sn-1,3) are the long chain saturated fatty acid acyl groups having a chain length of 12 or more carbon atoms at the sn-1 and sn-3 position in TAG; wLCSFA(sn-1,3) is the amount of LCFA(sn-1,3) in % by weight based on total weight of fatty acid acyl groups in TAG; mLCFA(sn-1,3) is the mole fraction of LCFA(sn-1,3) based on total moles of fatty acid acyl groups in the TAG as expressed in mol %; andSFA is the mole fraction of saturated fatty acid acyl groups in the TAG as expressed in mol %.

Claims

1. A fat composition comprising a mixture of triacylglycerols (TAG) originating from a bovine milk fat source and a vegetable lipid source, said mixture comprising: (a) a content of butanoate groups (C4:0) of 0.5-2.8% by weight, based on total weight of fatty acid acyl groups in TAG; (b) a wLCSFA(sn-1,3) of 18.0-35.0% by weight; (c) a mLCFA (sn-1,3) of 48.0-61.0 mol %, preferably 50.0-59.0 mol %; and (d) a ratio mLCFA (sn-1,3)/SFA of 0.70-1.25, wherein: LCFA(sn-1,3) are the long chain fatty acid acyl groups having a chain length of 12 or more carbon atoms at the sn-1 and sn-3 position in TAG; LCSFA(sn-1,3) are the long chain saturated fatty acid acyl groups having a chain length of 12 or more carbon atoms at the sn-1 and sn-3 position in TAG; wLCSFA(sn-1,3) is the amount of LCSFA(sn-1,3) in % by weight based on total weight of fatty acid acyl groups in TAG; mLCFA(sn-1,3) is the mole fraction of LCFA(sn-1,3) based on total moles of fatty acid acyl groups in the TAG as expressed in mol %; and SFA is the mole fraction of saturated fatty acid acyl groups in the TAG as expressed in mol %.

2. The fat composition according to claim 1, wherein: the content of butanoate groups (C4:0) is 0.5-2.2% by weight, based on total weight of fatty acid acyl groups in TAG; and the ratio mLCFA (sn-1,3)/SFA is 0.95-1.25.

3. The fat composition according to claim 1 comprising 10-60 wt %, based on total weight of TAG, of TAG originating from the bovine milk fat source.

4. The fat composition according to claim 3, wherein the bovine milk fat source is whole milk and/or cream.

5. A nutritional composition comprising proteins, carbohydrates and a lipid source, wherein the lipid source comprises the fat composition according to claim 1.

6. The nutritional composition according to claim 5, wherein the nutritional composition has a ratio $\frac{\mathrm{mLCFA}\left(\mathrm{sn}-1,3\right)*\left(\mathrm{Ca}+\mathrm{Mg}\right)}{\mathrm{SFA}}$ in the range of 0.40 to 0.75 grams per 100 grams of nutritional composition (g/100 g), wherein (Ca+Mg) is a concentration of calcium plus a concentration of magnesium in the nutritional composition in g/100 g.

7. A method of treating gut discomfort and/or constipation in a subject, the method comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of the nutritional composition of claim 5, wherein the subject is a human subject of 0-36 months of age.

8. A method of reducing intestinal formation of calcium and magnesium fatty acid soaps in a subject, the method comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of the nutritional composition of claim 5.

9. A method of treating gut discomfort and/or constipation in a subject, the method comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of the fat composition of claim 1, wherein the subject is a human subject of 0-36 months of age.

10. A method of reducing intestinal formation of calcium and magnesium fatty acid soaps in a subject, the method comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of the fat composition of claim 1.

11. The fat composition according to claim 1, wherein the content of butanoate groups (C4:0) in the mixture is 0.6-2.7% by weight, based on total weight of fatty acid acyl groups in TAG.

12. The fat composition according to claim 1, wherein the content of butanoate groups (C4:0) in the mixture is 0.6-2.0% by weight, based on total weight of fatty acid acyl groups in TAG.

13. The fat composition according to claim 1, wherein the wLCSFA (sn-1,3) of the mixture is 19.0-32.0% by weight.

14. The fat composition according to claim 1, wherein the mLCFA (sn-1,3) of the mixture is 50.0-59.0 mol %.

15. The fat composition according to claim 1, wherein the ratio mLCFA (sn-1,3)/SFA is 0.80-1.20.

16. The fat composition according to claim 1, wherein the ratio mLCFA (sn-1,3)/SFA is 1.00-1.20.

Description

EXAMPLES

(1) The invention is further illustrated by the following examples without limiting the scope of the invention to these particular embodiments.

(2) In the examples the following figures will be referred to:

(3) FIG. 1Study outline and treatment arms per cross-over study

(4) FIG. 2Palmitic acid soap levels (mg/g dry weight) in stool samples

(5) FIG. 3Calcium levels (mg/g dry weight) in stool samples.

EXAMPLE 1NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITIONS AND FAT COMPOSITION

(6) Two nutritional compositions for infants illustrating the invention were prepared: Formulation A comprising approximately 50 wt % milk fat based on total fat and Formulation B comprising approximately 20 wt % milk fat based on total fat according to the invention were prepared by blending the milk fat source with demineralized whey and heating the resulting mixture to evaporate part of the water included in such mixture followed by cooling the mixture. Minerals and vitamins were added to the cooled mixture and this mixture was pasteurized. Subsequently a vegetable fat blend was added and the mixture was homogenized and spray dried to obtain a base powder, to which dry blend ingredients were added to obtain the Formulations A and B.

(7) The bovine milk fat sources used for Formulation A were cream and whole milk, the milk fat source used to prepare Formulation B was a mixture of whole milk and skimmed milk.

(8) The other ingredients were added in such amounts resulting in the Formulations A and B having a composition as indicated in Table 1.

(9) Reference Formulation C (only vegetable oil used; small amount of milk fat originates form the demineralized whey used) was prepared in the same way as Formulations A and B except that no bovine milk fat source was used, but skimmed milk was used instead in the first blending step.

(10) The composition of Formulation C is also indicated in Table 1.

(11) The fatty acid compositions present in each of the Formulations are indicated Table 2, whilst key parameters for each Formulation are summarized in Table 3.

(12) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Formulation compositions Nutrient A B C Casein (N 6.25) g/100 g 3.8 4.2 4.4 Whey Protein (N 6.25) g/100 g 6.6 6.4 6.4 Carbohydrates g/100 g 53.6 52.9 52.9 Lactose g/100 g 47.5 46.8 47.4 Fat g/100 g 27.3 27.4 27.3 Milk fat g/100 g 13.8 5.5 0.5 Minerals mg/100 g 2.3 2.5 2.5 Calcium mg/100 g 412 426 430 Magnesium mg/100 g 49 49 49 Sodium mg/100 g 154 173 180 Phosphorus mg/100 g 223 234 238 Potassium mg/100 g 549 610 614 Chloride mg/100 g 302 359 360 Galacto-oligosaccharides g/100 g 3.1 3.1 3.1 Sphingomyelin mg/100 g 53 42 36 Cholesterol mg/100 g 47 29 19 Phospholipids mg/100 g 204 164 145 Vitamins mg/100 g 156 143 144 Choline mg/100 g 161 160 159 Inositol mg/100 g 55 54 34 L-carnitine mg/100 g 23 22 12

(13) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Fatty acid compositions Formulation A Formulation B Formulation C TAG sn-2 sn-1 + sn-3 TAG sn-2 sn-1 + sn-3 TAG sn-2 sn-1 + sn-3 wt % mol % mol % wt % mol % wt % mol % mol % wt % mol % wt % mol % mol % wt % mol % C4:0 1.9 5.2 0.0 1.9 5.2 0.7 2.1 0.0 0.7 2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 C6:0 1.1 2.4 0.0 1.2 2.4 0.5 1.1 0.0 0.5 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 C8:0 1.2 2.1 0.1 1.2 2.0 0.8 1.4 0.1 0.8 1.3 0.8 1.5 0.0 0.8 1.5 C10:0 1.9 2.7 0.7 1.4 2.0 1.1 1.5 0.4 0.8 1.1 0.7 1.1 0.2 0.6 0.9 C12:0 5.2 6.3 4.0 1.9 2.3 6.7 8.6 4.0 3.7 4.6 8.8 11.5 5.2 4.9 6.3 C14:0 6.9 7.5 4.4 2.9 3.1 4.4 4.9 2.5 2.2 2.4 3.6 4.1 1.7 2.1 2.4 C16:0 18.9 18.1 7.4 11.4 10.7 25.7 25.6 5.1 20.9 20.5 24.6 25.0 2.5 22.4 22.5 C16:1 0.9 0.9 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 C18:0 5.6 4.8 0.8 4.8 4.0 4.6 4.1 0.5 4.0 3.6 3.7 3.3 0.2 3.4 3.1 C18:1 37.9 33.1 9.8 27.2 23.3 39.0 35.3 14.1 23.8 21.2 40.2 37.0 15.9 23.0 21.1 C18:2 12.2 10.7 4.3 7.4 6.4 11.2 10.2 5.4 5.3 4.8 13.3 12.4 6.6 6.3 5.8 C18:3 1.4 1.3 0.7 0.7 0.6 1.5 1.4 0.7 0.7 0.7 1.7 1.6 1.5 0.8 0.1 C20:0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 C20:1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

(14) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Key parameters Formulation A B C C4:0 (wt %) 1.9 0.7 0.0 wLCSFA(sn-1,3) 21.0 30.8 32.8 mLCFA(sn-1,3) 50.8 58.1 61.4 SFA 49.1 49.3 46.5 mLCFA(sn-1,3)/SFA 1.03 1.18 1.32 (Ca + Mg) (g/100 g) 0.46 0.48 0.48 (Ca + Mg)*mLCFA(sn-1,3)/SFA 0.47 0.56 0.63

EXAMPLE 2SOAP FORMATION

(15) To investigate the beneficial effect of milk fat in infant formula on formation of fatty acid soaps and calcium excretion, the following trial was conducted with Formulations A, B and C of Example 1: two double-blind randomized placebo-controlled cross-over trials were conducted in parallel in healthy term infants screened between the 9.sup.th and 14.sup.th week of age. All subjects were exclusively fed with Formulations A and C or with Formulations B and C and received the control Formulation C for two weeks (wash-out period) prior to the start of Period I. The set-up of the trial is schematically depicted in FIG. 1.

(16) As depicted in FIG. 1 cross-over study 1 (CS1) enrolled 17 subjects that were randomly allocated to a two-week trial (period I) with either Formulation A (50 wt % milk fat formula) or Formulation C (vegetable fat control formula). After two weeks, all infants were crossed-over to the other formula for another two-week trial (period II). In cross-over study 2 (CS2), a similar approach was conducted with 18 enrolled subjects fed with either Formulation B (20 wt % milk fat formula) or Formulation C (vegetable fat control formula). At the end of period I and period II, fecal samples were collected to assess excretion of palmitic acid soaps and calcium. The results are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

(17) As shown in FIG. 2, both CS1 and CS2 showed reduced levels of palmitic acid soap (mg/g dry weight) in stool samples of infants fed with milk fat-based Formula A and B as compared with vegetable fat-based Formula C.

(18) As shown in FIG. 3, both CS1 and CS2 showed that the stool samples of the infants fed with milk fat containing Formulations A and B showed reduced levels of calcium (mg/g dry weight) as compared with the stool samples obtained from the infants fed with essentially milk fat-free Formulation C.

(19) The results of the trial show that infant formula containing a fat composition with a fatty acid distribution that is characterized by a certain content of butanoate groups (C4:0) and a specific distribution of long chain fatty acids over the glycerol backbone, particularly saturated long chain fatty acids, reduces the formation of palmitic acid soaps and the excretion of calcium in stool samples. As a result, it can be expected that infants will have less gut discomfort and constipation which contributes to their wellbeing.