Food Lipids: Chemistry, Nutrition, and Biotechnology

Figure 16 Lipase-catalyzed transesterification for the production of cocoa butter
substitutes.
c. Nutraceuticals. Possible applications of interesterification reactions catalyzed
by sn-1,3-specific lipases include, for example, the preparation of structured triacylglycerols
for use in specific dietetic products (Nutraceuticals). Thus, interesterification
of a common plant oil, such as sunflower oil, with a medium chain fatty acid
using a sn-1,3-specific lipase would yield triacylglycerols containing medium chain
acyl moieties at the sn-1,3 positions and long chain acyl moieties at the sn-2 position,
as shown in Fig. 18 (110–114). Such products, which do not occur in nature and
are difficult to prepare by chemical synthesis, may find interesting dietetic applications
(115).
Evidence has accumulated lately that nutritional properties of triacylglycerols
can be altered beneficially by structuring such lipids, e.g., by inserting certain fatty
acyl moieties at specific positions of the glycerol backbone to yield structured triacylglycerols
(116–120). Especially, structured triacylglycerols, prepared by lipasecatalyzed
transesterification in which the physiologically active �3 or�6 polyunsaturated
fatty acids, such as docosahexaenoic (DHA) and �-linolenic (GLA) acids
(eicosanoid precursors) are esterified at specific positions of glycerol backbone, as
shown in Fig. 19 (121–124) are envisaged to exhibit interesting biological properties
(120) that might enable their use in specific nutraceutical products and infant feed
(Fig. 19).
Figure 17 Preparation of structured triacylglycerols for use as human milk fat replacers
by lipase-catalyzed transesterification.
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