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Milk Fat Composition and Nutritional Value

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

J. J. Murphy
J. J. Murphy*
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Dairy Production Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork, Ireland
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Extract

The perception of milk has changed over the past 25 years from one of being the ideal food to one of being detrimental nutritionally, mainly due to the fatty acid composition of its fat component. Now however, it has been discovered that milk contains a number of compounds, which may have positive nutritional benefits. It also appears that the association between saturated fatty acids in milk and effects on cholesterol may have been an oversimplification. It is accepted that the hypercholesterolaemic saturated fatty acids in milk fat are confined to lauric (C12:0), myristic (C14:0) and palmitic acid (C16:0) with the shorter chain saturated fatty acids and stearic acid having no cholesterol raising effect. Indeed bovine milk fat contains two fatty acids which may have important beneficial effects on human health, namely conjugated linoleic acid (cis- 9, trans- 11 linoleic acids – C18:2, CLA) and butyric acid (C4:0). Also monounsaturated fatty acids have been shown to be beneficial in altering the proportions of LDL and HDL cholesterol and it is possible to increase the concentration in milk of the principal monounsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid (C18:1), by optimising the diet of the cow. This paper will discuss nutritional strategies to optimise milk fat composition with particular reference to work from my own Research Centre in relation to oleic acid and CLA.

Type
Invited Theatre Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2001 , 2001 , pp. 255 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2001

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