Butter

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a potent cancer preventive agent in animal models. To date, all of the in vivo work with CLA has been done with a commercial free fatty acid preparation containing a mixture of c9,t11-, t10,c12- and c11,t13-isomers, although CLA in food is predominantly (80-90%) the c9,t11-isomer present in triacylglycerols. The objective of this study was to determine whether a high CLA butter fat has biological activities similar to those of the mixture of free fatty acid CLA isomers. The following four different endpoints were evaluated in rat mammary gland: 1) digitized image analysis of epithelial mass in mammary whole mount; 2) terminal end bud (TEB) density; 3) proliferative activity of TEB cells as determined by proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunohistochemistry; and 4) mammary cancer prevention bioassay in the methylnitrosourea model. It should be noted that TEB cells are the target cells for mammary chemical carcinogenesis. Feeding butter fat CLA to r...

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is present in milk products and meat from ruminants, appears to have anticarcinogenic activity against breast cancer in animal and in vitro experiments. To date, few epidemiologic data are available in humans. This study evaluated the relation between intakes of CLA and other fatty acids and breast cancer incidence in the Netherlands Cohort Study. Intake data derived from a validated 150-item food-frequency questionnaire were linked to an existing database with analytic data on specific fatty acids in European foods (the TRANSFAIR study). With 6.3 y of follow-up and 941 incident cases of breast cancer, multivariate rate ratios and 95% CIs were calculated for energy-adjusted intakes of fatty acids and CLA-containing food groups (eg, butter, cheese, milk, other milk products, and meat). CLA intake showed a weak, positive relation with breast cancer incidence (rate ratio for highest compared with lowest quintile: 1.24, 95% CI: 0.91, 1.69; P for tre...

Fresh grass in the cow diet improves the rheological and nutritional properties of butter. However, the relationship between the proportion of fresh grass in the diet and these properties is still unknown. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between the proportion of fresh grass in the diet and the properties of milk and butter. Four groups of 2 cows were fed 4 isoenergetic diets characterized by increasing amounts of fresh grass (0, 30, 60, and 100% dry matter of forage) according to a Youden square design. Energy levels were similar among all diets. Thus, no effect of mobilization was observed and the results were only due to the proportion of fresh grass in the diet. Milk yield linearly increased with the proportion of fresh grass in the diet (+0.21 kg/d per 10% of grass). Fat yield remained unchanged. Thus, by effect of dilution, increasing the proportion of fresh grass in the diet induced a linear decrease in fat content. Milk fat globule size decreased...

To elucidate the role of dietary habits, a study was carried out in 1992-1997 in the province of Pordenone in Northeastern Italy, and those of Rome and Latina in central Italy. Cases were 512 men and 86 women with cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx (lip, salivary glands and nasopharynx excluded) and controls were 1008 men and 483 women who had been admitted to local hospitals for a broad range of acute non-neoplastic conditions. The validated dietary section of the questionnaire included 78 foods or recipes and ten questions on fat intake patterns. After allowance for education, smoking, alcohol and total energy intake, significant trends of increasing risk with increasing intake emerged for soups, eggs, processed meats, cakes and desserts, and butter. Risk was approximately halved in the highest compared to the lowest intake quintile for coffee and tea, white bread, poultry, fish, raw and cooked vegetables, citrus fruit, and olive oil. The inverse association with oils, especial...

The urge to swallow food could be triggered by a threshold level in both food particle size and lubrication of the food bolus. Thus, both oral physiology and product characteristics may influence the swallowing threshold. We quantified the swallowing threshold in a group of 266 healthy adult subjects (age 42 +/- 12 years) by counting the number of chewing cycles needed to prepare food for swallowing. The influence of oral physiology on the swallowing threshold was determined by measuring salivary flow rate, maximum bite force and masticatory performance. We used about 10 cm(3) of bread, toast, melba toast, breakfast cake, peanuts and cheese to determine the influence on the swallowing threshold of various food characteristics, e.g. hardness, moisture and fat. Furthermore, we tested the effect of buttering the bread, toast, melba toast and breakfast cake on the swallowing threshold. Salivary flow rates were significantly and negatively correlated with the number of chewing cycles of ...

The effect of diets containing 50% of fat calories from butter, butter enriched with mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and margarines with and without trans fatty acids on the serum lipids of 38 healthy men in a free-living condition have been determined. Serum lipid responses to the high level of individual dietary fats were unexpectedly small. The butter diet produced a small, but significant rise (5%) in the total serum cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, relative to all other diets. Enrichment of butter with either olive oil (50/50) or sunflower oil (50/50) failed to reduce serum lipid levels below habitual diet values. Hard margarine, containing 29% trans fatty acids, caused a decrease in apolipoprotein A-I and B levels, but did not change total serum cholesterol or LDL-cholesterol levels, relative to habitual diet values. A soft margarine, high in linoleate, with no trans fatty acids reduced total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B s...

Cancer models utilize massive doses of carcinogen so that investigations of anticarcinogenic effects require equally large doses. Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), predominately consumed in dairy products, are thought to be anticarcinogenic. Our objective was to naturally produce a CLA-enhanced butter for use in biomedical studies with animal models. To do this, we fed cows a low forage diet supplemented with sun-flower oil. This resulted in increases in content of CLA of milk fat, but the markedly elevated concentrations were transient and declined over a 3-wk period. By collecting milk fat over the first few days on the diet (d 7 to 10) and selecting cows with the greatest CLA concentrations, we were able to produce a butter in which CLA content was enhanced sevenfold over control butter (41 vs. 5 mg/g of fatty acids) and the cis-9, trans-11 isomer predominated (91%). Thus, butter produced by this method can be used to investigate the preventive role of CLA in natural foods with bi...

It has been suggested that changes in dietary habits, particularly increased consumption of ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and decreased consumption of ω-3 PUFAs may explain the increase in atopic disease seen in recent years. Furthermore, it seems possible that it is mainly prenatal or very early life environmental factors that influence the development of allergic diseases. It has also been suggested that intrauterine risk factors may act differently if mother themselves suffer from allergic disease.The aim of this study was to investigate whether the consumption of fish, butter and margarine during pregnancy might influence the development of allergic sensitizations in the offspring. The study population was divided into the offspring of allergic and non-allergic mothers.This was a retrospective cohort study enrolling 295 offspring of allergic mothers and 693 of non-allergic mothers. Information regarding maternal intake of fish, butter and margarine during pregnancy as well as other prenatal and perinatal confounding factors were retrospectively assessed by parental report via a standardized questionnaire. Atopy was determined by skin-prick tests (SPT) to eight prevalent inhalant allergens and two foods.In the allergic mothers’ group there is no clear correlation between maternal intakes of fish, butter and margarine and sensitizations to food or inhalants.In the non-allergic mothers’ group there was no correlation between butter and margarine intake and food or inhalant sensitizations. On the contrary, a protective effect of fish intake on SPT positivity was observed. In particular, frequent maternal intake (‘2–3 times/wk or more’) of fish reduced the risk of food sensitizations by over a third (aOR 0.23; 95% CI: 0.08–0.69). A similar trend, even if not significant, was found for inhalants. Finally, even in the whole study population, i.e. allergic group plus non-allergic group, there was a similar trend between increased consumption of fish and decreased prevalence of SPT positivity for foods.This study shows that frequent intake of fish during pregnancy may contrast the development of SPT sensitizations for foods in the offspring of mothers without atopic disease. Therefore, larger prospective studies are needed, enrolling mothers with and without allergic disease, to confirm these results.

Evidence suggests that ruminant trans fatty acids (FAs), such as vaccenic acid, do not increase the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD). However, the effects of ruminant trans FAs on risk markers of IHD have been poorly investigated. The objective was to investigate the effect of butter with a naturally high content of vaccenic acid and a concomitantly higher content of monounsaturated FAs on classic and novel risk markers of IHD. In a double-blind, randomized, 5-wk, parallel intervention study, 42 healthy young men were given 115 g fat/d from test butter that was high in vaccenic acid (3.6 g vaccenic acid/d) or a control butter with a low content of vaccenic acid. Blood and urine samples were collected before and after the intervention. The intake of the vaccenic acid-rich diet resulted in 6% and 9% lower total cholesterol and plasma HDL-cholesterol concentrations, respectively, than did the intake of the control diet (P = 0.05 and 0.002, respectively), whereas the ratio of total ...

Advances in dairy foods and dairy foods processing since 1981 have influenced consumers and processors of dairy products. Consumer benefits include dairy products with enhanced nutrition and product functionality for specific applications. Processors convert raw milk to finished product with improved efficiencies and have developed processing technologies to improve traditional products and to introduce new products for expanding the dairy foods market. Membrane processing evolved from a laboratory technique to a major industrial process for milk and whey processing. Ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis have been used extensively in fractionation of milk and whey components. Advances in cheese manufacturing methods have included mechanization of the making process. Membrane processing has allowed uniform composition of the cheese milk and starter cultures have become more predictable. Cheese vats have become larger and enclosed as well as computer controlled. Researchers have learne...

Recent studies have illustrated the effects of cis-9,trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on human health. Ruminant-derived meat, milk and dairy products are the predominant sources of cis-9,trans-11 CLA in the human diet. This study evaluated the processing properties, texture, storage characteristics, and organoleptic properties of UHT milk, Caerphilly cheese, and butter produced from a milk enriched to a level of cis-9,trans-11 CLA that has been shown to have biological effects in humans. Forty-nine early-lactation Holstein-British Friesian cows were fed total mixed rations containing 0 (control) or 45 g/kg (on dry matter basis) of a mixture (1:2 wt/wt) of fish oil and sunflower oil during two consecutive 7-d periods to produce a control and CLA-enhanced milk, respectively. Milk produced from cows fed the control and fish and sunflower oil diets contained 0.54 and 4.68 g of total CLA/100 g of fatty acids, respectively. Enrichment of CLA in raw milk from the fish and sunflower ...

Background: Dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is known to reduce atherosclerosis, plasma total and LDL-cholesterol concen- trations,andbodyfataccumulationinseveralanimalspecies.Ofthe few studies that investigated the effects of CLA supplementation in humans, all used commercially formulated oral supplements made from a mixture of CLA isomers. Objective: We compared the effects on plasma lipoproteins and body composition of the consumption of a modified butter naturally enriched with CLA (CLA-B: 4.22 g CLA/100 g butter fat) by the additionofsunfloweroiltothedietofdairycowswiththeconsump- tionofacontrolbutter(CON-B)thatwaslowinCLA(0.38gCLA/100 g butter fat). Design: In a crossover design study including an 8-wk washout period, 16 men (x SD age: 36.6 12.4 y; body mass index (in kg/m2):31.24.4)werefedeachofthe2experimentalisoenergetic diets,providing15%ofenergyasprotein,45%ascarbohydrates,and 40% as lipids, of which 60% was derived from experimental fats, for 4 wk. Results: Consump...

The aim of this experiment was to compare the effects of increasing amounts of extruded linseed in dairy cow diet on milk fat yield, milk fatty acid (FA) composition, milk fat globule size, and butter properties. Thirty-six Prim'Holstein cows at 104 d in milk were sorted into 3 groups by milk production and milk fat globule size. Three diets were assigned: a total mixed ration (control) consisting of corn silage (70%) and concentrate (30%), or a supplemented ration based on the control ration but where part of the concentrate energy was replaced on a dry matter basis by 2.1% (LIN1) or 4.3% (LIN2) extruded linseed. The increased amounts of extruded linseed linearly decreased milk fat content and milk fat globule size and linearly increased the percentage of milk unsaturated FA, specifically alpha-linolenic acid and trans FA. Extruded linseed had no significant effect on butter color or on the sensory properties of butters, with only butter texture in the mouth improved. The LIN2 ...

Milk fatty acid composition and textural properties of butter are known to be affected by the cows' diets. We examined the phenotypic variation in milk fatty acid composition among cows fed the same diet to see if the variation was sufficient to produce butter with different textural properties. Ten cows were selected that tested higher (n = 5) or lower (n = 5) in their proportion of milk unsaturated fatty acids. Milk samples were collected a week after testing, and butter was prepared from the individual samples. Milk and butter samples were again analyzed for fatty acid composition. Butter at 5 degrees C was evaluated by a sensory panel for spreadability and by a texture analyzer at both 5 and 23 degrees C for hardness and adhesiveness. Milk and butter samples from cows with a more unsaturated milk fatty acid composition had a lower atherogenic index, and the butter samples were more spreadable, softer, and less adhesive. Thus, phenotypic variation in milk fatty acid compositi...

Fatty acid composition influences the nutritional quality of milk and the technological properties of butter. Using a prediction of fatty acid (FA) contents by mid-infrared (MIR) spectrometry, a large amount of data concerning the FA profile in bovine milk was collected. The large number of records permitted consideration of more complex models than those used in previous studies. The aim of the current study was to estimate the effects of season and stage of lactation as well as genetic parameters of saturated (SAT) and monounsaturated (MONO) fatty acid contents in bovine milk and milk fat, and the ratio of SAT to unsaturated fatty acids (UNSAT) that reflect the hardness of butter (SAT:UNSAT), using 7 multiple-trait, random-regression test-day models. The relationship between these FA traits with common production traits was also studied. The data set contained 100,841 test-day records of 11,626 Holstein primiparous cows. The seasonal effect was studied based on unadjusted means. T...

Comparable to commercial expensive high-fat diets, cholesterol-cholate-butterfat (CCB) diet has also been used to induce hyperlipidemia in rats. Our objective was to explore its influence on multiple organs. Consequence of fasting was also analysed. Rats in groups 1 and 2 received normal diet (ND) whereas groups 3 and 4 received CCB-diet. Food was withdrawn daily for two hours from groups 2 (ND-F) and 4 (CCB-F). Blood was collected at fourth and sixth week for biochemical estimation; Morris water maze was done in the sixth week for learning ability and memory; after which aortae were isolated for vascular reactivity. Apart from hyperlipidemia, CCB also induced hyperglycemia with marked increase in hepatic enzymes: gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), alanine and aspartate aminotransferase (ALT and AST); and vascular biomarkers: uric acid (UA), phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Isolated aortae, pre-contracted with phenylephrine, were less responsive to acetylcholine indicating ...