Lipid-containing foods, decreased

Various methods have been employed to measure the extent of autoxi-dation in lipids and lipid-containing food products. For obvious reasons, such methods should be capable of detecting the autoxidation process before the onset of off-flavor. Milk and its products, which develop characteristic off-flavors at low levels of oxidation, require procedures that are extremely sensitive to oxidation. Thus methods of measuring the decrease in unsaturation (iodine number) or the increase in diene conjugation as a result of the reaction do not lend themselves to quality control procedures, although they have been used successfully in determining the extent of autoxidation in model systems (Haase and Dunkley 1969A Pont and Holloway 1967). 

It has been observed that the content of secondary oxidation products, such as malonaldehyde (MA), decreases with increased lipid oxidation, which can be explained by further reaction of MA with proteins. MA reacts with compounds containing primary amino groups (proteins, amino acids, DNA, phospholipids) to form fluorescent products (Figure 5) (37). A fluorescence assay has been successfully used to assess lipid oxidation in muscle foods and biological tissues. 

A typical Western diet contains approximately 100-300 mg and 20-50 mg of plant sterol and plant stanol, respectively. The relationship between total dietary phytosterol content and the fatty acid composition of the diet decreases with increasing saturated fatty acids, whereas the total dietary phytosterol content increases with increasing PUFA (89). Fortification of lipid foods, such as margarine, with plant sterols will dramatically increase the daily intake of phytosterols and significantly lower serum cholesterol (90). The dietary consumption of large amounts of plant sterols will interfere with cholesterol absorption, thereby leading to an increased daily neutral steroid excretion. 

Anaphylactic reactions have also been reported following the consumption of foods derived from, or containing, soy beans. Recently there has been concern at the concentration of phytoestrogens in some soy-derived products. Administration of soy protein to humans has resulted in significantly decreased serum lipid concentrations. " ... 

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