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Original Research Communication |
1 From the Nutrition Food and Health Research Centre, Kings College London (TABS and SEEB), and the Medical Research Council Cardiovascular Group, Wolfson Institute, St Bartholomews and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Charterhouse Square, London (GJM).
2 Supported by the Medical Research Council and Kings College London. The experimental fats were provided by Danisco Cultor (Ardsley, NY). 3 Reprints not available. Address correspondence to TAB Sanders, Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Kings College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, United Kingdom. E-mail: tom.sanders{at}kcl.ac.uk.
| ABSTRACT |
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Objective: The objective was to test whether the consumption of randomized cocoa butter decreases postprandial lipemia and FVII:a.
Design: A randomized crossover trial with 17 male subjects compared the effects of meals containing 50 g fat provided as a symmetrical (cocoa butter) or an asymmetrical (randomized cocoa butter) triacylglycerol on postprandial changes in lipids, chylomicron composition, and FVII:a.
Results: After randomization, the postprandial area under the curve for plasma triacylglycerol decreased by 41% (P < 0.01). At 3 h the plasma concentrations of triacylglycerol, palmitic acid, stearic acid, and oleic acid were 26%, 18%, 34%, and 19% lower, respectively. The proportion of oleic acid in the sn-2 position of the chylomicron triacylglycerol was reduced from 67.4 mol% to 35.9 mol% and resulted in an increase in the proportion of stearic acid in the sn-2 position from 9.2 mol% to 25.4 mol%. FVII:a did not increase 6 h after consumption of the randomized cocoa butter (
: 1.2; 95% CI: -2.7, 4.6 U/L) but increased significantly (
: 7.7; 95% CI: 2.5,12.9 U/L) 6 h after consumption of the unrandomized cocoa butter.
Conclusions: Symmetrical stearic acidrich triacylglycerol with oleic acid in the sn-2 position appears to be absorbed more rapidly than is asymmetrical triacylglycerols with long-chain saturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position, which leads to activation of FVII.
Key Words: Factor VII stearic acid postprandial lipemia saturated fatty acids triacylglycerols digestion
| INTRODUCTION |
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Cocoa butter has an idiosyncratic triacylglycerol structure, with almost all of the stearic acid being present as symmetrical triacylglycerol either as 1,3-distearyl-oleyl glycerol or 1-stearyl, 2-oleyl, 3-palmitoleyl glycerol (3). This unique triacylglycerol structure contributes to the well-known organoleptic properties of cocoa butter, which leads to it melting rapidly at approximately body temperature and being well digested (4). The aim of this present study was to test the hypothesis that triacylglycerol structure determines the extent to which stearic acidrich triacylglycerol increases plasma triacylglycerol and FVII activation. Consequently, we compared the postprandial response to randomized cocoa butter (asymmetrical triacylglycerol) with that to unrandomized cocoa butter (symmetrical triacylglycerol).
| SUBJECTS AND METHODS |
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1 wk between treatments. Subjects were advised to avoid the consumption of foods high in fat on the day preceding each test meal. To control for physical activity levels, subjects were asked to refrain from strenuous exercise, including cycling and sporting activities, and from the use of alcohol on the day before and on the day of the test meal. Subjects fasted overnight beginning at 2200 and then venous blood samples were obtained between 0800 and 1000 the following morning. The test meal was consumed within 15 min, and additional venous blood samples were obtained 3 and 6 h later. Capillary blood samples were obtained at 1, 2, 4, and 5 h. After the 3-h blood samples were drawn, subjects consumed a standardized lunch (1.7 MJ) consisting of fresh fruit and low-fat yogurt (< 1 g fat). This was previously shown to not interfere with the measurement of postprandial lipemia or the postprandial increase in FVII:a (1, 2).
Formulation of the test meals
The test meals consisted of a muffin and a freshly prepared strawberry milkshake and were formulated to provide 3.13 MJ (749 kcal), 50 g fat, 16 g protein, and 50 g carbohydrate. The milkshake consisted of 150 g fresh strawberries, 150 mL skim milk, and 10 g pasteurized egg white powder. Each muffin contained 50 g test fat, 10 g baking flour, 5 g cornstarch, 5 g cocoa powder, 15 g sugar, 20 mL skim milk, 2 g pasteurized egg white, 2 g vanilla essence, and 2 g baking powder. The test fats consisted of unrandomized or randomized cocoa butter with melting points of 35 and 50 °C, respectively (determined by differential scanning calorimetry analysis provided by Danisco Cultor). Both test fats were manufactured from the same batch of cocoa butter and had the same fatty acid composition following processing and similarly low acid value (0.08) and alkaline number (< 0.02). The muffins were made in a single batch and stored at -20 °C.
Collection and handling of blood samples
Venous blood samples were collected by using the evacuated technique with minimal compression necessary to display the vein. The first 10 mL of blood was drawn into a tube containing dipotassium EDTA and the plasma was separated by centrifugation at 4 °C for 15 min at 1500 x g. The chylomicron-rich fraction (Svedberg flotation unit > 400) was separated by ultracentrifugation from the 3-h blood sample (5), and plasma lipoprotein concentrations were measured from unfrozen plasma, kept at 4 °C, within 48 h of blood collection. An aliquot of plasma was set aside and frozen at -80 °C for measurement of the plasma total fatty acid content. For FVII:a, blood was collected into a 4.5-mL evacuated tube containing 38 g/L of a trisodium citrate solution, centrifuged at 1500 x g for 15 min at 18 °C, divided into aliquots, snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80 °C until analyzed for FVII:a. Blood (
0.5 mL) for analysis of plasma triacylglycerol was collected by finger-prick 1, 2, 4, and 5 h postprandially into a micro-Eppindorf tube containing 1 mg dipotassium EDTA. The blood samples were processed within 1 h of collection.
Analytic methods
Plasma triacylglycerol and total and HDL-cholesterol concentrations were measured by enzymatic assay as previously described (2). Plasma total lipid concentrations of stearic, oleic, and palmitic acids were determined by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), with pentadecanoic acid as an internal standard (6). Lipids were extracted from the chylomicrons with chloroform:methanol (1:1, by vol), and the triacylglycerol fraction was isolated by thin-layer chromatography on silica gel G plates developed in hexane:diethyl ether:glacial acetic acid (80:20:2, by vol). Bands were detected under ultraviolet light after spraying with 50 mg dichlorofluorescein in 100 mL methanol:water (95:5, by vol). The triacylglycerol fraction was methylated with methanolic HCl, and the fatty acids were analyzed by GLC. The fatty acid composition of the test fats was determined by GLC of the methyl esters, and the triacylglycerol molecular species of the test fats were determined by HPLC with the use of propionitrile as the mobile phase (7) by Michael Jee (Reading Scientific Services, Reading, United Kingdom). The composition of the fatty acids in the sn-2 position of the test fats (8) and the chylomicron triacylglycerol fraction were determined by specific enzymatic hydrolysis (5), followed by separation of the 2-monoacylglycerols by thin-layer chromatography and analysis of their fatty acid methyl esters by GLC. The triacylglycerol composition of the test fats is shown in Table 2
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Statistical analysis
Statistical analyses of the data were carried out by using repeated-measures analysis of variance with SPSS PC version 10 (SPSS Inc, Chicago). Comparisons with fasting values were made by using paired t tests with a Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons.
| RESULTS |
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| DISCUSSION |
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Summers et al (5) compared the effects on postprandial lipid metabolism of meals containing 60 g fat providing stearic acid either predominantly in the sn-1 position (SOO meal) or the sn-2 position (OSO meal). They found no difference in the extent of the postprandial lipemia measured as the area under the curve but chylomicron triacylglycerol concentrations reached a maximum 4 h after the SOO meal and 5 h after the OSO meal. In common with the current study, the proportion of fatty acids in the sn-2 position of the chylomicron triacylglycerol was very similar to that of the dietary fat, showing that the fatty acids in the sn-2 position of dietary fats are conserved in the same position on absorption. As in our previous studies (1, 2), subjects in the current study consumed a low-fat meal after the 3-h blood sample. This light meal was given to make the procedure acceptable to the subjects but also to mimic the normal physiologic state, in which persons rarely go without food for long periods of time. In the current study, we observed a biphasic response in serum triacylglycerol concentration similar to that observed by Fielding et al (11), which may reflect a second-meal effect.
Compared with the unrandomized cocoa butter meal, the randomized cocoa butter meal failed to elicit an increase in FVII:a. This observation is similar to that observed in our previous studies, in which we used SALATRIM (2), and is consistent with the observations in 2 other studies, in which a synthetic stearic acid fat produced from tristearin, which was interesterified randomly with higholeic acid sunflower oil (1, 12). Although, it is tempting to attribute this effect to the lower postprandial increase in plasma triacylglycerol, it was previously shown that the extent of the increase in plasma triacylglycerol was not proportional to the increase in FVII:a (2). The intake of stearic acid was 36 g in the study by Sanders et al (1) and 3038 g in the study by Tholstrup et al (13). In the study by Sanders et al (1), tristearin, distearoyl, and monostearyl triacylglycerol accounted for 12%, 49%, and 39% of the stearic acid in the dietary fat, respectively, with
36% being present in the sn-2 position (TAB Sanders, unpublished observations, 2000). Mennen et al (14) did not observe a statistically significant difference in the postprandial increase in FVII:a after a stearic acidrich test meal compared with meals rich in palmitic acid or linoleic acid. However, there was a tendency for the increase to be lower after the highstearic acid meal (11.6 compared with 15.9 U/L after a highlinoleic acid meal) even though the postprandial area under the curve was greater after the stearic acidrich meal than after the linoleic acidrich meal. In that study, no information was provided about the source of the stearic acid in the test fat. The intake of stearic acid in the test meal served by Mennen et al was 18.6 g, which was similar (17 g) to that used in the current study. After the unrandomized cocoa butter meal, most of the stearic acid was present in the triacylglycerol containing oleic acid in the sn-2 position, and this was accompanied by a significant increase in FVII:a. Consequently, it appears that symmetrical stearic acidrich triacylglycerol with oleic acid in the sn-2 position is absorbed and metabolized more rapidly, leading to activation of FVII, than is asymmetrical triacylglycerol in the sn-2 position with long-chain saturated fatty acids.
The mechanism for the postprandial activation of FVII after fatty meals is not fully understood. Although there is a relation between the fasting plasma triacylglycerol concentration and FVII coagulant activity, there appears to be no clear relation between the extent of postprandial lipemia and FVII:a (2). It has been proposed that factor XII (FXII) activated during the lipolysis of triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein would result in FVII activation. However, this hypothesis appears to be refuted by the finding that postprandial activation of FVII occurs in patients with a complete deficiency of factor XII (15) and a lack of change in activated FXII (FXII:a) after a high-fat test meal (16). FVII:a is associated with plasma phospholipid concentrations (17), and it is known that FVII can be activated by synthetic phospholipid particles containing negatively charged phospholipids (18). Membrane microparticles can be shed from activated platelets and leukocytes (19), and this may well occur postprandially, when lipid transfer reactions are active. It is plausible that these reactions proceed at a slower pace after consumption of triacylglycerol with stearic acid in the sn-2 position. Indeed, lipoprotein lipase (EC 3.1.1.34) and cholesterol ester transfer protein activities were found to be lower after meals rich in stearic acid (14). The pathophysiologic significance of changes in FVII:a concentrations in relation to the risk of coronary heart disease remains uncertain because the FVII:a concentration was paradoxically associated with a decreased risk of coronary heart disease in a prospective cohort study (20). It was also postulated that the postprandial increase in FVII:a may be related to activation of the ATP-binding cassette transporter A-I (21), which may be stimulated by the production of nascent HDL of intestinal origin. Further studies are required to examine the mechanisms leading to FVII activation.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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TABS conceived and devised the study and contributed to the analysis and the writing of the manuscript, SEEB organized and conducted the study and contributed to the writing of the manuscript, and GJM supervised the FVIIa analysis and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. The authors had no financial our commercial interest in any company or organization sponsoring the research.
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