Olive oil-based structured lipids containing palmitic, omega-3 and -6 fatty acids for potential application in infant formula

Abstract

In this study, refined olive oil was enriched with palmitic acid (PA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as well as gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) by lipase-catalyzed reaction using Novozym 435 or Lipozyme TL IM. The resultant structured lipid (SL) contained 47.80 mol% total palmitic aicd (PA) and 49.82 mol% at the sn¬-2 position. Total DHA and GLA were found to be at 0.73 and 5.00 mol%, respectively. In comparison, fat extract from a commercial infant formula contained 6.12 mol% PA at the sn-2 position and 0.26 mol% DHA. Differential scanning colorimetry showed that the SL exhibited a higher melting temperature than commercial infant formula fat and milk fat. Low pulse nuclear magnetic resonance demonstrated that the SL had a comparable solid fat content to commercial infant formula fat at temperature of 25 to 55 °C. The produced SL have the potential to be used in infant formula.