Lipid nutritional supplements

Lipid nutritional supplements have been in use before the term nutraceutical was coined. Products such as fish oils, shark cartilage, shark liver oil, and vitamins have been in the market since the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of the health claims of these products lacked strict scientific documentation in the past, and their curative properties were mostly anecdotal. However, today there is a better understanding of the biological properties of lipids and their application has extended to combined pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields such as disease prevention and treatment, excipients and coadjuvants, frawi-dermal carriers, and skin emolliency agents. This has led to the development of bioactive cosmetic and pharmaceutical products whose name has recently been coined as cosmeceuticals. 

Niacin (vitamin B3) has broad applications in the treatment of lipid disorders when used at higher doses than those used as a nutritional supplement. Niacin inhibits fatty acid release from adipose tissue and inhibits fatty acid and triglyceride production in liver cells. This results in an increased intracellular degradation of apolipoprotein B, and in turn, a reduction in the number of VLDL particles secreted (Fig. 9-4). The lower VLDL levels and the lower triglyceride content in these particles leads to an overall reduction in LDL cholesterol as well as a decrease in the number of small, dense LDL particles. Niacin also reduces the uptake of HDL-apolipoprotein A1 particles and increases uptake of cholesterol esters by the liver, thus improving the efficiency of reverse cholesterol transport between HDL particles and vascular tissue (Fig. 9-4). Niacin is indicated for patients with elevated triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and elevated LDL cholesterol.3... 

As has been pointed out earlier in this chapter, the dietary consumption and historical medicinal use of carotenoids has been well documented. In the modern age, in addition to crocin, 3.7, and norbixin, 3.8, several carotenoids have become extremely important commercially. These include, in particular, astaxanthin, 3.6 (fish, swine, and poultry feed, and recently human nutritional supplements) lutein, 3.4, and zeaxanthin, 3.3 (animal feed and poultry egg production, human nutritional supplements) and lycopene, 3.2 (human nutritional supplements). The inherent lipophilicity of these compounds has limited their potential applications as hydrophilic additives without significant formulation efforts in the diet, the lipid content of the meal increases the absorption of these nutrients, however, parenteral administration to potentially effective therapeutic levels requires separate formulation that is sometimes ineffective or toxic (Lockwood et al. 2003). 

Self-assembly of phospholipids, such as phosphatidylcholine, a nutritional supplement, in the presence of calcium creates 50-500 nm large, continuous, solid, lipid bilayer sheets rolled into a spiral structure termed nanocochleates.f These can be made to envelope a lipid-soluble drug, such as amphotericin B, to exclude water and protect against pH, oxidation, light, enzymatic attack, hydrolysis, and extremes in temperature. The nanocochleates will convert to liposomes at a pH greater than 6.5 in a calcium deficient environment as is found in the cell (typically less than 1-2... 

Replacing saponification, triacylglycerols and other saponifiable lipids can be removed by chromatographic techniques. For example, saponifiable lipids were removed from vegetable oils by solid-phase extraction with silica cartridges with 98% recoveries of tocopherols (Lechner et al., 1999), and a-tocopheryl acetate was extracted from emulsified nutritional supplements by solid-phase extraction with octadecyl silica cartridges with >90% recoveries (Iwase, 2000). 

Soybean deodorizer distillate (SBDD) is the material collected from the steam distillation of soybean oil. It is a mixture of free fatty acids (particularly during physical refining), tocopherols, phytosterols and their esters, hydrocarbons, and secondary lipid oxidation products. The quality and composition of SBDD depends on feedstock oil composition and on processing conditions. Tocopherols and sterols are valuable components that can be further separated from the distillate and used in the nutrition-supplement and pharmaceutical industries (Pickard et al. 1996). Table 2.13 shows the composition of deodorizer distillates... 

The work of Nyc and associates on the lipids of Neurospora crassa is of particular interest in relation to the bios3mthesis of lecithin. The phospholipid of a choline-requiriug mutant contains the phosphatidyl esters of both mono- and di-methylaminoethanol (Hall and Nyc 1961). Nutritional studies with appropriate mutants of this organism have shown that lecithin may be formed (a) from choline by the cytosine nucleotide pathway (Reactions 11 and 12), (b) from phosphatidyl ethanolamine by the methylation pathway (Reactions 13,14 and 15) and (c) from mono- and di-methylaminoethanol by the incorporation of the base into lipid, presumably by way of CDP-intermediates, followed by methylation. The relative contributions of these pathways can be influenced by mutations and by nutritional supplementation of the culture medium (Crocken and Nyc 1964). 

The oleaginous nature of microalgae allows them to biosynthesize lipids with a commercial interest for biofuel, nutritional supplements, and pharmaceutical applications. Generating biodiesel, bioethanol, and bio jet fuel from microalgae as a replacement for their fossil fuel-based coxmterparts has been an ongoing quest since the early 1960s and has been explored in... 

Linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid are essential fatty acids that are provided in any long-term parenteral nutrition by administering fat emulsions at least twice a week. Fatty acid deficiency is a common complication of severe end-stage liver disease. The ability of short-term intravenous lipid supplementation to reverse fatty acid deficiencies has been studied in patients with chronic liver disease and low plasma concentrations of fatty acids (914). Shortterm supplementation failed to normalize triglycerides. 

Vitamin E is required for normal growth and reproduction. The most important natural source is a-tocopherol found in plant oils and seeds. The ester form (e.g. vitamin E acetate) can be synthesized and is used for feed supplementation. One international unit is defined as being equivalent to the activity of 1 mg DL-a-tocopherol acetate. The nutritional role of vitamin E is closely interrelated with that of selenium and is involved mainly in the protection of lipid membranes such as cell walls from oxidative damage. Although these signs are similar to those of selenium deficiency, it is not possible to substitute selenium completely for vitamin E. Both nutrients are required in the diet. 

Iyer, U.M. and Mani, LJ.V. (1 990) Studies on the effect of curry leaves supplementation (Murraya koenigii) on lipid profile, glycated proteins and amino acids in non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition (formerly Qualitas Plantarum) 40(4), 275-282. 

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