Fatty acid content of serum lipid fractions and blood lipids in normolipidaemic volunteers fed two types of cheese having different fat compositions: a pilot study

Abstract

The aim of this randomised, double-blind, crossover study in normolipidaemic volunteers was to investigate the effect of consumption of an experimental cheese (from cows fed a grass and maize silage-based diet with 5% of linseed oil added) or a control cheese (without linseed oil) on both plasma lipids and fatty acid content of serum lipid fractions. A lower content of medium-chain saturated fatty acids as well as a higher content of stearic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids were found in the experimental cheese; its consumption was successful in limiting the enhanced blood concentration of atherogenic fatty acids, without affecting fatty acid content of serum lipid fractions. These results indicate that dairy products could be considered as key foods for fat modifications with the objective of optimizing their nutritional quality.

Keywords::

• dairy products
• saturated fatty acids
• blood lipid profile
• serum fatty acids

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the study participants, Dr Bruno Martin for cheese production and Mr Paolo Gabrielli, Dr Pamela Manzi and Dr Maria Mattera for cheese chemical analyses.

Declaration of interest This work is supported by TRUEFOOD project. TRUEFOOD ‘Traditional United Europe Food’ is an Integrated Project financed by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme for RTD (Contract No. FOOD-CT-2006-016264). The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.