EL USO DE LíPIDOS ESTRUCTURADOS EN LA NUTRICIóN: UNA TECNOLOGíA QUE ABRE NUEVAS PERSPECTIVAS EN EL DESARROLLO DE PRODUCTOS INNOVADORES

lipids, together with carbohydrates and proteins, are the main components of human nutrition. triglycerides are the major lipids present in our foods, and therefore modifications in lipid consumption must be oriented to the modification of triglyceride composition and structure in foods. digestion of triglycerides by mouth, gastric and intestinal lipases is highly stereospecific in terms of the recognition of the fatty acid bound to the glycerol. lingual, gastric, pancreatic, and milk lipases, can release fatty acids from different positions (sn-1, sn-2 or sn-3) of triglycerides allowing the formation of free fatty acids, monoglycerides, and glycerol. free fatty acids with chain length up to c16 may form insoluble calcium soaps which precipitate at the intestinal track causing the formation of hard feces which frequently the cause of intestinal disorders both in infants and adults. formulas developed to replace maternal milk contain lipids from vegetable and animal origin which can not mimic the stereochemistry of human milk, therefore the bioavailability of fatty acids can be considerably reduced and increasing formation of insoluble fatty acid soaps may be produced from these formulas. this is a frequent cause of constipation in non breast-fed infants. enzyme technology allows the synthesis of triglycerides with a definite fatty acid composition and stereochemistry. these lipids are designed as structured triglycerides and are now available to modify the lipid composition of infant formulas allowing a stereochemical distribution similar to human milk. structured lipids added to formulas may provide a nutritional fatty acid profile similar to mother's milk, avoiding the formation of insoluble soaps, and thus considerably decreasing constipation in babies