Effects of Lipid Structure Changed by Interesterification on Melting Property and Lipemia

Interesterification or the randomization reaction changes fatty acid positional distribution and solid fat content of fats, which may consequently affect fat absorption and metabolism. It is well established that saturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position of triacylglycerols (TAG) have better digestibility and lower postprandial chylomicron clearance compared to those in the sn-1,3 positions in animal experiments. TAG structure is also shown to affect fasting lipid level and atherosclerosis in animals, but fat interesterification it has been shown to not affect fasting lipid level in human adults. However, its effect on postprandial responses is controversial. In this review, the complex results of studies of interesterification and lipemia were briefly discussed. More importantly, the confounding of two factors that are both changed by interesterification, TAG structure and solid fat content as the main limitation on understanding how interesterification affects lipemia is emphasized. Separation of the two factors is possible using paired fats as demonstrated. This paper also discusses some intriguing effects of fats having saturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position and the need for future research.