Li Feng, Ning Yibing, Zhang Yiren, Huang Huidong, Yuan Qingbin, Wang Xingguo, Wei Wei
State Key Lab of Food Science and Resources, Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.
Nutrition Research Institute, Junlebao Dairy Group Co. Ltd, Shijiazhuang, China.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2025 Mar 20:1-19. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2025.2479071.
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6 n-3) is a long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) present in high quantities in the mammalian brain and is a precursor of several metabolites. Clinical trials have demonstrated the benefits of dietary DHA in infants and adults. Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are the most abundant components of many natural oils, and in specific oils (e.g., fish, algal oils, etc.), they represent the main molecular form of dietary DHA. The positional distribution of DHA in the TAG glycerol backbone (-2 vs. -1/3) varied among different sources. Recent studies have shown that in human breast milk, DHA is mainly esterified at the -2 position (∼50% DHA of the total DHA), thus attracting research interest regarding the nutritional properties of -2 DHA. In this review, we summarize the different sources of TAG in natural oils with high amounts of DHA, including fish, algae, and marine mammal oils, with a focus on their positional distribution. Methods for analyzing the distribution of fatty acids in TAG of high-PUFA oils are discussed, and the lipase-catalyzed synthetic routes of specific triacylglycerols with -2 DHA are summarized. Furthermore, we discuss the recent research progress on the nutritional properties of DHA associated with its positional distribution on TAGs.
二十二碳六烯酸（DHA，22:6 n-3）是一种长链多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA），在哺乳动物大脑中大量存在，并且是几种代谢物的前体。临床试验已证明膳食DHA对婴儿和成人有益。三酰甘油（TAGs）是许多天然油脂中最丰富的成分，在特定油脂（如鱼油、藻油等）中，它们是膳食DHA的主要分子形式。DHA在TAG甘油主链上的位置分布（-2位与-1/3位）因不同来源而异。最近的研究表明，在人母乳中，DHA主要在-2位酯化（占总DHA的约50%），因此引发了对-2位DHA营养特性的研究兴趣。在本综述中，我们总结了富含DHA的天然油脂中TAG的不同来源，包括鱼油、藻油和海洋哺乳动物油，重点关注它们的位置分布。讨论了分析高PUFA油脂中TAG脂肪酸分布的方法，并总结了具有-2位DHA的特定三酰甘油的脂肪酶催化合成路线。此外，我们讨论了与DHA在TAGs上的位置分布相关的营养特性的最新研究进展。
