Early Enteral Administration of a Complex Lipid Emulsion Supplement Prevents Postnatal Deficits in Docosahexaenoic and Arachidonic Acids and Increases Tissue Accretion of Lipophilic Nutrients in Preterm Piglets.

BACKGROUND: Preterm delivery and current nutrition strategies result in deficiencies of critical long-chain fatty acids (FAs) and lipophilic nutrients, increasing the risk of preterm morbidities. We sought to determine the efficacy of preventing postnatal deficits in FAs and lipophilic nutrients using an enteral concentrated lipid supplement in preterm piglets. METHODS: Preterm piglets were fed a baseline diet devoid of arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and randomized to enteral supplementation as follows: (1) Intralipid (IL), (2) complex lipid supplement 1 (CLS1) with an AA:DHA ratio of 0.25, or (3) CLS2 with an AA:DHA ratio of 1.2. On day 8, plasma and tissue levels of FAs and lipophilic nutrients were measured and ileum histology performed. RESULTS: Plasma DHA levels decreased in the IL group by day 2. In contrast, DHA increased by day 2 compared with birth levels in both CLS1 and CLS2 groups. The IL and CLS1 groups demonstrated a continued decline in AA levels during the 8-day protocol, whereas AA levels in the CLS2 group on day 8 were comparable to birth levels. Preserving AA levels in the CLS2 group was associated with greater ileal villus height and muscular layer thickness. Lipophilic nutrients were effectively absorbed in plasma and tissues. CONCLUSIONS: Enteral administration of CLS1 and CLS2 demonstrated similar increases in DHA levels compared with birth levels. Only CLS2 maintained AA birth levels. Providing a concentrated complex lipid emulsion with an AA:DHA ratio > 1 is important in preventing postnatal AA deficits.

Characterization of three berry standard reference materials for nutrients.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been working with the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements to produce Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) of interest to analysts of dietary supplements. Some of these SRMs are traditional foods including SRM 3281 Cranberry (Fruit), SRM 3282 Low-Calorie Cranberry Juice Cocktail, and SRM 3287 Blueberry (Fruit), which have been characterized for nine nutritional elements and sugars. The blueberries have also been characterized for proximates, two water-soluble vitamins, and amino acids. These new materials are intended for use in method development and validation as well as for quality assurance and traceability in the assignment of values to in-house control materials. Foods can be difficult to analyze because of matrix effects. With the addition of these three new SRMs, it is now possible to more closely match controls to matrices and analyte levels for fruit and vegetable test samples. Several nutritional elements in these three SRMs are present at lower levels than in other food-matrix SRMs.

Formation of acrylamide from lipids.

Heating amino acids with dietary oils or animal fats at elevated temperatures produced various amounts of acrylamide. The amount of acrylamide formation corresponded to the degree of unsaturation of the oils and animal fats. The decreasing order of acrylamide formation from dietary oils or animal fats with asparagine was sardine oil (642 microg/g asparagine) > cod liver oil (435.4 microg/g) > soybean oil (135.8 microg/g) > corn oil (80.7 microg/g) > olive oil (73.6 microg/g) > canola oil (70.7 microg/g) > corn oil (62.1 microg/g) > beef fat (59.3 microg/g) > lard (36.0 microg/g). Three-carbon unit compounds such as acrylic acid and acrolein, which are formed from lipids by oxidation also produced acrylamide by heat treatment with amino acids, in particular with asparagine. The results of the present study suggest that acrylamide forms in asparagine-rich foods during deep fat frying in the absence reducing sugars.