Modifications of Stearidonic Acid Soybean Oil by Enzymatic Acidolysis for the Production of Human Milk Fat Analogues

Abstract

Structured lipids (SLs) from stearidonic acid (SDA) soybean oil pre-enriched with palmitic acid (PA) at the sn-2 position with Novozym 435 (NSL) or Lipozyme TL IM (LSL) from previous research were further enriched with γ-linolenic acid (GLA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Small-scale acidolysis reactions with Lipozyme TL IM were performed to determine the optimal reaction conditions as 1:1 substrate mole ratio of NSL or LSL to free DHA at 65 °C for 24 h and a 1:0.5 substrate mole ratio of NSL or LSL to free GLA at 65 °C for 12 h. Optimized SL products were scaled up in a 1 L stir-batch reactor, and the resulting SLs of NSL:DHA (NDHA), LSL:DHA (LDHA), NSL:GLA (NGLA), and LSL:GLA (LGLA) were chemically and physically characterized. The SLs contained >54% PA at the sn-2 position with GLA >8% for the GLA SLs and DHA >10% for the DHA SLs. The oxidative stabilities of the SLs were increased by the addition of 200 ppm TBHQ, with NGLA being more stable due to higher tocopherol content than the other SLs. The melting and crystallization profiles did not differ between the DHA SLs or the GLA SLs. The triacylglycerol (TAG) species were similar for the GLA SLs but differed between the DHA SLs, with tripalmitin being the major TAG species in all SLs.