Taormina Victoria M, Unger Allison L, Schiksnis Morgan R, Torres-Gonzalez Moises, Kraft Jana
Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Nutrients. 2020 Sep 20;12(9):2875. doi: 10.3390/nu12092875.
Dairy fat and its fatty acids (FAs) have been shown to possess pro-health properties that can support health maintenance and disease prevention. In particular, branched-chain FAs (BCFAs), comprising approximately 2% of dairy fat, have recently been proposed as bioactive molecules contributing to the positive health effects associated with the consumption of full-fat dairy products. This narrative review evaluates human trials assessing the relationship between BCFAs and metabolic risk factors, while potential underlying biological mechanisms of BCFAs are explored through discussion of studies in animals and cell lines. In addition, this review details the biosynthetic pathway of BCFAs as well as the content and composition of BCFAs in common retail dairy products. Research performed with in vitro models demonstrates the potent, structure-specific properties of BCFAs to protect against inflammation, cancers, and metabolic disorders. Yet, human trials assessing the effect of BCFAs on disease risk are surprisingly scarce, and to our knowledge, no research has investigated the specific role of dietary BCFAs. Thus, our review highlights the critical need for scientific inquiry regarding dairy-derived BCFAs, and the influence of this overlooked FA class on human health.
乳脂肪及其脂肪酸（FAs）已被证明具有促进健康的特性，有助于维持健康和预防疾病。特别是，支链脂肪酸（BCFAs）约占乳脂肪的2%，最近被认为是生物活性分子，对食用全脂乳制品带来的积极健康影响有贡献。这篇叙述性综述评估了关于BCFAs与代谢风险因素之间关系的人体试验，同时通过讨论动物和细胞系研究来探索BCFAs潜在的生物学机制。此外，本综述详细介绍了BCFAs的生物合成途径以及常见零售乳制品中BCFAs的含量和组成。体外模型研究表明，BCFAs具有强大的、结构特异性的特性，可预防炎症、癌症和代谢紊乱。然而，评估BCFAs对疾病风险影响的人体试验出奇地少，据我们所知，尚无研究调查膳食BCFAs的具体作用。因此，我们的综述强调了对源自乳制品的BCFAs以及这一被忽视的脂肪酸类别对人类健康影响进行科学探究的迫切需求。
