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Palmitic Acid is Absorbed as sn-2 Monopalmitin from Milk and Formula with Rearranged Triacylglycerols and Results in Increased Plasma Triglyceride sn-2 and Cholesteryl Ester Palmitate in Piglets^1,2,

Sheila M. Innis^3,4,, Roger Dyer, Paul Quinlan^* and Deborah Diersen-Schade

Department of Paediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 4H4 ^* Unilever Research, Colworth Laboratory, Shambrook, United Kingdom; and Mead Johnson Research Center, Evansville, IN

Milk fatty acids contain 20–30% palmitic acid (16:0), with -70% of the 16:0 esterified to the sn-2 position of the milk triacylglycerol. Formulae containing vegetable and oleo oils contain different amounts of 16:0, but all have unsaturated fatty acids esterified to the triacylglycerol sn-2 position. Intraluminal triacylglycerol hydrolysis by endogenous lipases produces sn-2 monoacylglycerols and free fatty acids, which are absorbed and re-esterified in the enterocyte for secretion to plasma. The extent of absorption and re-esterification of sn-2 monoacylglycerols from milk or formula fats in infants is unknown. This was studied by feeding piglets sow milk or formulae containing similar total saturated fat, 18:1, 18:2(n-6) and 18:3(n-3) with unsaturated fatty acids at the sn-2 position or with rearranged triacylglycerols containing -30% 16:0, with 70% 16:0 in fatty acids at the sn-2 position. Feeding milk or 16:0 on the sn-2 position of formula with rearranged triacylglycerols resulted in higher 16:0 esterified to the plasma triacylglycerol sn-2 position and in cholesteryl esters than feeding formulae with 0.4 to 4.4% 16:0 in the sn-2 position fatty acids. The absorption of 16:0 as monopalmitin from milk and any metabolic importance in human infants has yet to be determined.

KEY WORDS: • milk triacylglycerols • monoacylglycerol • infant formula • palmitic acid • absorption • piglets

¹ Funding for these studies was in the form of grants from Mead Johnson Nutritional Group (Evansville, IN) and Loders Croklaan, The Netherlands.

² The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

³ To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed.

⁴ Career Investigator of the B.C. Children's Hospital Foundation.

Manuscript received 4 February 1994. Revision accepted 7 June 1994.

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