Butterfat

Butterfat or milkfat is the fatty portion of milk. Milk and cream are often sold according to the amount of butterfat they contain.

Composition

Structure of a triglyceride containing myristic, palmitic, and oleic acid

Butterfat is mainly composed of triglycerides. Each triglyceride contains three fatty acids. Butterfat triglycerides contain the following amounts of fatty acids (by mass fraction):

Fatty acid content of butterfat
Type of fatty acid pct
Lower saturated (at most C12)
 
 11%
Myristic saturated C14
 
 12%
Palmitic saturated C16
 
 31%
Stearic saturated C18
 
 11%
Palmitoleic monounsaturated C16:1
 
 4%
Oleic monounsaturated C18:1
 
 24%
Linoleic polyunsaturated C18:2
 
 3%
Alpha-Linolenic polyunsaturated C18:3
 
 1%
Trans (mainly vaccenic C18:1 trans-11)
 
 3%
black: Saturated; grey: Monounsaturated; green: Polyunsaturated; blue: Trans

Butterfat contains about 3% trans fat, which is slightly less than 0.5 grams per US tablespoon. Trans fats occur naturally in meat and milk from ruminants. The predominant kind of trans fat found in milk is vaccenic fatty acid. Trans fats may be also found in some industrially produced foods, such as shortenings obtained by hydrogenation of vegetable oils. In light of recognized scientific evidence, nutritional authorities consider all trans fats equally harmful for health and recommend that their consumption be reduced to trace amounts. However, two Canadian studies have shown that vaccenic acid could be beneficial compared to vegetable shortenings containing trans fats, or a mixture of pork lard and soy fat, by lowering total LDL and triglyceride levels. A study by the US Department of Agriculture showed that vaccenic acid raises both HDL and LDL cholesterol, whereas industrial trans fats only raise LDL with no beneficial effect on HDL.

Butterfat contains 3 to 4% tributyrin, a triglyceride (fat) and precursor of the short-chain fatty acid butyric acid, and is the richest-known food source of tributyrin.

Milk fatty acids, length, and position on glycerol (1, 2, 3)
Fatty acidlengthmol%
(rounded)		123
ButyrylC41200100
CaproylC650793
CaprylylC82251263
CaprylC104172756
LaurylC12442535
MyristylC1411295219
PalmitylC162447458
HexadecenoylC16:13364618
StearylC18749456
OleylC18:124422632
LinoleylC18:23234731

Standards

Most countries have standards for minimum fat levels in dairy products.

United States

In the U.S., there are federal standards for butterfat content of dairy products.

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Research Council, 1976, online edition Fat Content and Composition of Animal Products, Printing and Publishing Office, National Academy of Science, Washington, D.C., ISBN 0-309-02440-4; p. 203
  2. ↑ The quote values vary by 1–3% according to the source: Jost, Rolf (2007). "Milk and Dairy Products". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. doi:10.1002/14356007.a16_589.pub3. ISBN 978-3-527-30673-2.
  3. 1 2 "National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28". United States Department of Agriculture.[dead link]
  4. ↑ EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA) (2010). "Scientific opinion on dietary reference values for fats". EFSA Journal. 8 (3): 1461. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1461.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (2007). "Update on trans fatty acids and health, Position Statement" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2010.
  6. ↑ Brouwer IA, Wanders AJ, Katan MB (2010). "Effect of animal and industrial trans fatty acids on HDL and LDL cholesterol levels in humans – a quantitative review". PLOS ONE. 5 (3) e9434. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...5.9434B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009434. PMC 2830458. PMID 20209147. S2CID 983576.
  7. ↑ "Trans fat". It's your health. Health Canada. Dec 2007. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "EFSA sets European dietary reference values for nutrient intakes" (Press release). European Food Safety Authority. 26 March 2010.
  9. ↑ Trans Fats From Ruminant Animals May Be Beneficial – Health News. redOrbit (8 September 2011). Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Bassett, C. M. C.; Edel, A. L.; Patenaude, A. F.; McCullough, R. S.; Blackwood, D. P.; Chouinard, P. Y.; Paquin, P.; Lamarche, B.; Pierce, G. N. (Jan 2010). "Dietary Vaccenic Acid Has Antiatherogenic Effects in LDLr-/- Mice". The Journal of Nutrition. 140 (1): 18–24. doi:10.3945/jn.109.105163. PMID 19923390.
  11. ↑ Wang, Flora & Proctor, Spencer (2 April 2008). "Natural trans fats have health benefits, University of Alberta study shows" (Press release). University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 17 December 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  12. ↑ Wang Y, Jacome-Sosa MM, Vine DF, Proctor SD (20 May 2010). "Beneficial effects of vaccenic acid on postprandial lipid metabolism and dyslipidemia: Impact of natural trans-fats to improve CVD risk". Lipid Technology. 22 (5): 103–106. doi:10.1002/lite.201000016.
  13. ↑ Bassett C, Edel AL, Patenaude AF, McCullough RS, Blackwood DP, Chouinard PY, Paquin P, Lamarche B, Pierce GN (2010). "Dietary Vaccenic Acid Has Antiatherogenic Effects in LDLr−/− Mice". The Journal of Nutrition. 140 (1): 18–24. doi:10.3945/jn.109.105163. PMID 19923390.
  14. ↑ David J. Baer, PhD. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Laboratory. New Findings on Dairy Trans Fat and Heart Disease Risk, IDF World Dairy Summit 2010, 8–11 November 2010. Auckland, New Zealand
  15. ↑ Wächtershäuser A, Stein J (August 2000). "Rationale for the luminal provision of butyrate in intestinal diseases". Eur J Nutr. 39 (4): 164–171. doi:10.1007/s003940070020. PMID 11079736. A direct source of butyrate is the diet, where it is present at low levels in many fruits and vegetables, but its richest source is from milk fat (butter) which contains 3–4 % butyrate as glycerol esters, termed tributyrin
  16. ↑ Lubary, Marta; Hofland, Gerard W.; ter Horst, Joop H. (2010). "The potential of milk fat for the synthesis of valuable derivatives". European Food Research and Technology. 232 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1007/s00217-010-1387-3. ISSN 1438-2377.
  17. ↑ United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service
  18. ↑ USDA Commercial Item Description: Fluid Milk and Milk Products (2018) Accessed January 29, 2020
  19. ↑ USDA Specifications for Cream Cheese, Cream Cheese with other Foods, and Related Products Archived 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine (1994).
  20. ↑ United States Department of Agriculture Standard for Ice Cream Archived 2012-06-16 at the Wayback Machine (1977).
  21. ↑ USDA Commercial Item Description: Cream, Eggnog, Half-and-half, and Sour Cream Archived 2012-06-16 at the Wayback Machine (2002).