Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Mzz,-o 18-wo
Ko/sr
Phospholipid-conta; n; ng Fat Mixture Conta; n; n_g LCP Fatty Acids
DESCRIPTION
The invention concerns a formula food containing a fat mixture based on
animal and plant, including microbial, oils and/or fats and lecithins contain-
ing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and also such a fat mixture for
the preparation of a formula food.
Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids with in particular 20 to 22 carbon
atoms, so-called LCP fatty acids, are synthesised in the human body by chain
extension and desaturation from the essential fatty acids linolic and linolen-
ic acids. Hence, linolic acid (18-2w6) and a-linolenic acid (18-3w3), which
are
respectively a w6 and a w3 desaturated fatty acid, must be absorbed with the
food, linolic acid being the starting compound for the w6-LCP fatty acid
group, and a-linolenic acid the starting compound for the w3-LCP group.
However in the rapidly growing body of the baby, the endogenous synthesis
of LCP fatty acids is still very limited. To supply only the precursor fatty
acids linolic acids and n-linolenic acid is not sufficient. On the basis of
studies, it could be shown that babies who are not supplied with LCP fatty
acids in their food display significant differences compared to breast-fed
babies, both in the biochemical parameters of the blood, and also in funct-
ional properties, such as visual acuity and psychomotor tests.
LCP fatty acids, of which arachidonic acid (AA: 20-4w6) and docosahexaenoic
acid (DHA: 22-6w3) are the most important, are accumulated to a considerable
extent in the brain, especially in the last third of the pregnancy and the
first months of life after birth. Before birth, the LCP fatty acids are made
available to the foetus via the placenta. After birth, the baby receives these
fatty acids with the maternal milk, since human milk contains both w6 and
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also w3-LCP, of which arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid are the
most important components by quantity.
Now, formula foods or baby-foods which contain such LCP fatty acids are
already known; concerning this, see EP-A 0 404 058, EP-A 0 231 904 and US-A 4
670 285. In these known milk baby-foods or the fat mixtures contained
therein, the contents of the LCP fatty acids are more or less approximated to
the values of the total lipids of human milk. In these known formula foods
or the fat mixtures contained therein, account is taken of the quantity of the
supplemented LCP fatty acids, but not of the form in which these fatty acids
are bound.
The total lipids of human milk consist of about 97 to 99 o triacylglycerides
and about 0.5 to 2 °-o phospholipids. In addition, free fatty acids,
mono- and
diacylglycerides, glycolipids and cholesterol and phytosterol also occur in
human milk. The LCP fatty acids in human milk are about 90 to 95 $ present
in the form of triglycerides and about 5 to 10 o in the form of phospholipids.
In contrast to this, in EP-A-O 484 266, the incorrect view is held that the
main proportion of the Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCP fatty
acids) in human milk are present in the form of phospholipids. Consequently,
the addition of LCP fatty acids to dietetic foods in the form of phospholipids
from the brain fat of mammals is recommended there. Through the use of
such fatty acid phospholipid compositions and through the additional use of
fish oil, the LCP contents in these known foods are also approximated to the
ratios of the total lipids in human milk.
Moreover, because of the composition of the animal and/or plant starting
materials it is not possible to constitute baby-foods or a fat mixture on the
basis of animal and plant fats and oils in such a way that this "artificial"
food more or less exactly corresponds to human milk. Rather it is necessary
to choose and decide which of the many components matter, and which comp-
onents are added in what proportions to an "artificial" food.
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If now one attempts to imitate the fat mixture in human milk on the basis of
animal, plant and microbial oils, fats and lecithins more or less with regard
to the LCP fatty acids, then this is only possible with costly raw materials,
which are moreover not even available yet in sufficient amount.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved formula food
and an improved fat mixture. for the preparation of this formula food, which
as closely as possible approximates to the nutrient quality of human milk.
This purpose is fulfilled by the teaching of claim 1 and claim 6.
The formula foods or fat mixtures representing the state of the technology
are adjusted to the ratios of the total lipids in human milk as regards their
content (absolute) of the LCP fatty acids in question here. Surprisingly, it
has now been found that the total LCP fatty acids content of the formula
feeds can be reduced, if part of the arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic
acid are available in the form of phospholipids in the proportion according
to the invention.
Thus the addition of LCP fatty acids in the form of triglycerides, such as is
the case in the known formula foods, can be considerably decreased, and the
costs of the LCP fatty acids supplementation thereby reduced.
Thus it has surprisingly been found that it matters that a certain proportion
of the total arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid present are made
available to the neonate in the physiologically important form of the
phospholipids. On the basis of clinical studies, it could be shown that
babies which are fed with a formula food which contains the arachidonic acid
present in the form of phospholipids in a proportion of 0.3 to 3.0 mg/g total
fat and the docosahexaenoic acid present i:n the form of phospholipids in a
proportion of 0.1 to 2.0 mg/g total fat, the proportion of arachidonic acid
and
docosahexaenoic acid present in the form of triglycerides having been reduc-
ed compared to the conventional foods, display functional properties (visual
acuity, motor properties) and biochemical blood parameters which very
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closely approximate to those of breast-fed babies. Thus it is physiologically
decisive that the docosahexaenoic acid and the arachidonic acid are added to
a formula food both in triglyceride form and also in phospholipid form in the
proportions claimed according to the invention.
According to a preferred embodiment, the weight ratio of the arachidonic
acid present in the form of triglycerides to docosahexaenoic acid present in
the form of triglycerides is 0.5:1 to 20:1.
At the same time, the weight ratio of arachidonic acid present in the form of
phospholipids to docosahexaenoic acid present in the form of phospholipids
is preferably 0.5:1 to 1:5.
Moreover, the arachidonic acid and the docosahexaenoic acid are preferably
present as phosphoglycerolipids, and furthermore preferably in the form of
phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine.
A further subject matter of the invention is a fat mixture which contains the
LCP fatty acids in the stated form and in the stated proportions. This fat
mixture is suitable for the preparation of a baby- and premature baby-food,
especially milk baby-food. Moreover, the term formula food is taken to mean
any formula food which is "artificial" and hence prepared without use of
human milk and without use of the components of human milk.
The formula food according to the invention and of course also the fat mixt-
ure according to the invention can be prepared by mixing triacylglyceride-
containing animal and plant oils and fats with animal, plant and/or microbial
phospholipids (lecithins) which contain LCP fatty acids. As animal fats, for
example butter fat, organ fats such as kidney, liver and brain fat, and also
fish oils, can be used. As plant oils, oils from mono- and dicotyledonous
plants (palm oil, Soya oil, sunflower oil, etc.) can be used. Furthermore,
oils
of microbial origin (SCO) such as algal or fungal oils can be used. The LCP
fatty acids arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid used in the form of
phospholipids are introduced.into the fat mixture or formula food according
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to the invention in the form of phospholipids of animal, plant and microbial
origin. Among these phospholipids are lecithins from fish, from other marine
organisms such as mammals, krill, cephalopods, etc., from egg lipids, from
animal brain and other organ lipids and from macro- and microalgae and/or
from microorganisms. °
If it is assumed that a finished formula food (e.g. milk baby-food) has a fat
content of 4 % or 4 g/100 ml, then in a formula food according to the
invention
the arachidonic acid present in the form of phospholipids makes up 0.6 to
mg and the docosahexaenoic acid present in the form of phospholipids
makes up 0.3 to 10 mg, per 100 ml formula food.
A further subject matter of the invention is a process for the preparation of
a fat mixture according to the invention. In this, animal, plant and/or
microbial oils and/or fats, which contain no LCP fatty acids or only small
proportions of LCP fatty acids (this relates in particular to fats and oils
which were already previously used for the preparation of formula foods not
supplemented with LCP fatty acids), are mixed with a source of arachidonic
acid and docosahexaenoic acid that are present in the form of phospholipids
or with animal and plant, including microbial, oils, fats and/or lecithins,
which contain arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in the form of
phospholipids, in a known way, such that these arachidonic acid and docosa-
hexaenoic acid fulfil the values specified in claims 1 to 4. Here the mixing
of
the various oils, fats and/or lecithins can take place according to the state
of the technology; concerning this, see for example EP-A 0 231 904 and EP-A 0
404 058. A formula food can then be prepared from this fat mixture, likewise
according to the state of the technology.
The composition of five fat mixtures according to the invention and the fatty
acid patterns resulting therefrom are set out in table 1 below. These fat
mixtures are prepared by mixing the fat raw materials set out in this table 1.
Table 2 shows the composition of various formula foods according to the
invention, which were prepared using the fat mixtures illustrated in table 1.
For the preparation of the formula foods set out in table 2, the components
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quoted there are mixed together. By the addition of drinking water, ready-
to-drink formula foods can be prepared from these. For this, 13 g of the
composition or formula food described in table 2 is added to 90 ml drinking
water and mixed. 100 ml of the ready-to-drink formula foods thus obtained
have the absolute contents set out in the following table 3 of the fatty acids
mentioned there.
The abbreviation or nomenclature for the fatty acids used in the present
documents is explained in more detail inter alia in "Lipid Analysis", by
William W Christie, Pergamon Press, 1973.
TABLE 1
Composition of several fat mixtures according to the invention and the fatty
acid patterns resulting therefrom (quantities given in weight %)
j
Ex.l Ex.2 Ex.3 Ex.4 Ex.5
i
Fat raw materials:
butterfat 30 30 30 30 30
sunflower oil (Hyp.) 10 10 10 10 10
palm oil 25 24 21.5 21.5 21.5
coconut/palm nut oil 14 13 12 10 7
rapeseed oil 5 5 5 5 5
soya oil = 14 13.5 13.5 11.5 9.5
lecithinl 2 4 8 12 17
Fatty acids:
4-0 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77
6-0 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59
8-0 1.25 1.18 1.I2 1.00 0.81
10-0 1.66 1.60 1.55 1.44 1.27
12-0 8.56 8.03 7.49 6.45 4.88
14-0 6.31 6.14 5.94 5.60 5.10
16-0 22.73 22.86 22.52 23.08 23.78
16-1 0.71 0.75 0.82 0.91 1.01
18-0 5.13 5.21 5.37 5.54 5.76
18-lw9/w7 33.81 34.27 34.65 35.78 37.26
18-2w6 13.86 13.85 14.17 13.72 13.44
18-3w6 0.08 0.08 0.09 0.08 0.07
18-3w3 1.73 1.73 1.80 1.75 1.73
20-3w6 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.05
20-4w6 0.07 0.10 0.17 0.24 0.33
20-5w3
~I 22-6w3 0.04 0.07 0.13 0.20 0.28
1 = the values relate to a lecithin fraction based on egg lipids with a
phospholipid content of 30 wt % of the total fat.
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TABLE 2
Composition of various formula foods according to the invention
(values given in g)
Fat mixture according to one of examples 1-5 27.7 g
Whey proteins 7.4 g
Casein 6.6 g
Lactose 55.1 g
Minerals and trace elements 3.0 g
Vitamin mixture 0.2 g
. 100.0 g
For the preparation of a ready-to-drink formulation, 13 g of the composition
described above are mixed with 90 ml drinking water.
TABLE 3
Absolute content of arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids in baby-foods
Fatty acid: absolute content from phospholipids
Values given in: mg/100 ml
Ex.l Ex.2 Ex.3 Ex.4 Ex.5
Arachidonic acid (AA) 1.1 2.1 4.2 6.4 9.0
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)0.8 1.7 3.3 5.0 7.0
Fatty acid: absolute content from triglycerides
Values given in: mg/100 ml
Ex.l Ex.2 Ex.3 Ex.4 Ex.5
Arachidonic acid (A.A) 0.7 0.8 1.0 1.3 1.5
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)0.05 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5
