Preparation of human milk fat substitutes from palm stearin with arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acid: combination of enzymatic and physical methods.

Human milk fat substitutes (HMFSs) were prepared by a two-step process, namely, Lipozyme RM IM-catalyzed acidolysis of interesterified high-melting palm stearin with fatty acids from rapeseed oil and blending of the enzymatic product with the selected oils on the basis of the calculation model. The optimum conditions for the enzymatic reaction were a mole ratio of palm stearin/fatty acids 1:10, 60 °C, 8% enzyme load (wt % of substrates), 4 h, and 3.5% water content (wt % of enzyme); the enzymatic product contained 39.6% palmitic acid (PA), 83.7% of the fatty acids at sn-2 position were PA (sn-2 PA), and the distribution probability of PA at the sn-2 position among total PA (% sn-2 PA) was 70.5%. With the fatty acid profiles of human milk fat (HMF) as a preferable goal, a physical blending model was established for the second step to guarantee the maximum addition of selected oils. Based on the model prediction, a desirable formula constituted enzymatic product/rapeseed oil/sunflower oil/palm kernel oil/algal oil/microbial oil at a mole ratio of 1:0.28:0.40:0.36:0.015:0.017, and the final product had PA content, sn-2 PA, and %sn-2 PA at 23.5, 43.1, and 61.1%, respectively. The contents of arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids were 0.4 and 0.3%, respectively. Relying on the total and sn-2 fatty acid compositions of HMF and "deducting score" principle, the score for the similarity between the final product and HMF was scaled as 89.2, indicating the potential as a fat substitute in infant formulas.