Cardiovascular disease is the biggest global cause of death, with an estimated 17 million deaths per year, which are projected to reach 25 million by 2020. The awareness regarding heart related food and dairy items are also under scrutiny. People are conscious of the intake and benefits of low cholesterol dairy products as they are a part of our daily diet.
Dairy products in general are considered to be healthy food; this image is incorrectly perceived for products with a high fat content such as butter, cream, and many types of cheese. For instance, cholesterol is usually present as much as 219 mg/100 g in butter, 110 mg/100 g in cream cheese, and 105 mg/100 g in ice cream. Milk is a risk factor for atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease because of its cholesterol content and higher proportions of saturated fatty acids. Due to the considerable amount of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol in milk, its consumption is often associated with mortalities from cardiovascular disease.
A study was conducted to modify the fatty acid composition of milk fat by feeding management and technological methods. Concentration of long chain fatty acids (believe to decrease LDL) was increased by 35 percent when ‘Sahiwal’ cows were fed 600-grams calcium salts of long chain fatty acids per day.
Concentration of conjugated linoleic acid (anti carcinogenic) was increased up to 190 percent. Taste, smell and overall acceptability of milk with higher content of unsaturated fatty acids were similar to normal milk. 90 percent cholesterol was removed from milk when milk was treated with 1 percent food grade beta cyclodextrin at 10 oC. Physico-Chemical and sensory properties of yoghurt and ice cream from milk with lower contends of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol was quite similar to the commercially available reputed brands. Concentration of Oleic acid was increased about 50 percent when milk fat was fractionated by successive fractionation technique.
MUHAMMAD NADEEM,
MUHAMMAD ABDULLAH,
Lahore, October 7.