Preparation of human milk fat substitutes similar to human milk fat by enzymatic acidolysis and physical blending

Abstract

In this study, a human milk fat substitute (HMFS) rich in 1-oleoyl-2-palmitoyl-3-linoleoylglycerol (OPL) was prepared by physical blending. First, OPL was enzymatically synthesized by the acidolysis of fractionated palm stearin with oleic and linoleic acids. The reaction parameters were assessed until an optimum process was achieved. Under optimum conditions, contents of OPL and sn-2 palmitic acid in the synthesized OPL product were 47.93% and 87.90%, respectively. Subsequently, a physical blending model was established for the first time to prepare the HMFS similar to human milk fat (HMF). The optimum ratio of soybean oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, basa catfish oil and OPL product was determined to be 11.06%:2.91%:14.41%:35.02%:36.59%. The similarity between HMFS and HMF was evaluated by “deducting score” principle and the overall score of the HMFS was 84.98. The prepared HMFS have higher similarity than commercial HMFS products and thus are potential to be used in infant formulas.