Food Triglycerides

Digestion and Absorption of Lipids 93 TABLE 2.2 Fatty Acids that Occur in Food Triglycerides... 

Many food soils are encountered in hand dishwashing, such as grease, carbohydrate, protein, dairy, and mixed soils. Baked-on soil requires more vigorous treatment, either mechanical or chemical [26], The type of oily soil is almost exclusively triglycerides. The hydrocarbon chains in food triglycerides are predominantly C12 to Cl6, although higher and lower chains are also present. 

Bile salts are biosurfactants naturally formed by cholesterol degradation in the liver. Bile acids are stored in the gall-bladder. After derivation with glycine or tauric acid, the sodium salts of the derivatives are essential in the digestion process to emulsify food triglycerides. The pancreatic lipase enzyme can only split emulsified fatty globules. 

Most fatty acids found in foods and soaps belong to a class of compounds called triglycerides. The fat content shown on a nutrition label for packaged food represents a mixture of the triglycerides in the food. Triglycerides have the general structure shown below. 

Supercritical fluid chromatography has found many applications in the analysis of polymers, fossil fuels, waxes, drugs, and food products. Its application in the analysis of triglycerides is shown in Figure 12.38. 

Japan Wax. Japan wax [8001-39-6] is a fat and is derived from the berries of a small tree native to Japan and China cultivated for its wax. Japan wax is composed of triglycerides, primarily tripalmitin. Japan wax typically has a melting point of 53°C, an acid number of 18, and a saponification number of 217. Principal markets include the formulation of candles, poHshes, lubricants, and as an additive to thermoplastic resins. The product has some food-related apphcations. 

No discussion of the use of biotransfarmation in lipid chemistry would be complete without some mention of chemical transformation relating to fatty adds. Fatty adds are a major component of the lipid fraction of organisms. They are mainly found as components of triglycerides and phospholipids, although they may occur in smaller quantities as free fatty adds or as esters of other moieties. Fatty adds, either as free adds or as esters, are valuable commodities in the food and cosmetics industries. They may also serve as precursors of a variety of other compounds. 

Leptin is a cytokine produced and secreted by adipose tissue in proportion to the body fat content [3]. Mice and humans lacking leptin or its receptor develop a severe hyperphagia and a dramatic degree of obesity which is considerably more pronounced than that of the NDRKO mouse. Thus, leptin is the key adiposity signal in rodents and humans. Leptin secretion appears to reflect the metabolic status of the adipocyte rather than the sheer size of triglyceride deposits, and leptin levels may transiently be dissociated from total body fat. Nonetheless, over the course of a day with unrestricted food supply, plasma leptin levels reliably reflect the amount of total body fat. Local administration of leptin into the brain results in reduced food intake. The vast majority of patients with obesity have elevated serum levels of leptin. Thus, it is believed that the polygenic obesity is due to leptin resistance rather than to inadequate leptin secretion, or to a reduced blood/brain transport of the cytokine. 

The application of microemulsions in foods is limited by the types of surfactants used to facilitate microemulsion formation. Many surfactants are not permitted in foods or only at low levels. The solubilization of long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) such as edible oils is more difficult to achieve than the solubilization of short- or medium-chain triglycerides, a reason why few publications on microemulsions are available, especially because food-grade additives are not allowed to contain short-chain alcohols (C3-C5). 

Biodiesel is a fuel derived from renewable natural resources such as soybean and rapeseed and consists of alkyl esters derived from transesterification of triglycerides with methanol. In spite of all the advantages of biodiesel, such as low emissiotts, biodegradability, non-toxicity, and lubricity, the major hurdle in penetration of biodiesel is its high cost because of the expensive food grade refined vegetable oil feedstock. 

Pancreatic enzyme supplements should be taken immediately prior to meals to aid in the digestion and absorption of food. Alternately, patients can supplement their diet with medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) or ingest foods rich in MCTs since they do not require pancreatic enzymes for absorption. An appropriate regimen incorporates the successful doses of each enzyme (amylase, lipase, and protease) from the starting non-enteric-coated regimen. As with the previous example, a patient stabilized on Viokase-8, six tablets with each meal, can be transitioned to Pancrease MT-16 three tablets with meals. The famotidine can then be discontinued. 

Haila KM, Lievonen SM and Heinon IM. 1996. Effects of lutein, lycopene, annatto, and -y -tocopherol on oxidation of triglycerides. J Agric Food Chem 44 2096-2100. 

HPLC has many applications in the food industry. Two of interest in the bakery sector are the analysis of triglycerides and wheat proteins. 

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