LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

First report on the lipid composition of milk from livestock in Cuba

 

Primer informe de la composición lipídica de la leche en ganado de interés económico en Cuba

 

 

Dear Sir,

In the framework of the project IBEROFUN «Incorporation of new functional ingredients to food as a contribution to health promotion and/or prevention of diseases of the Latin American population», Ref: 110AC0386, a collaborative work on the lipid composition of milk from cows, buffaloes and goats was carried out by the National Center for Animal and Plant Health (CENSA) and the Research Institute of Food Science (CIAL) in Spain.

The results of the fatty acid profile of the species above mentioned showed slight changes in the averages obtained in other studies, with a tendency to be higher in both long chain and unsaturated fatty acids, which was directly related to the animal management system.

The conjugated linoleic acid showed values of 7.88 ± 1.11, 18.04 ± 3.60 and 17.16 ± 1.92 mg/g milk fat for goat, cattle and buffalo respectively. The value recorded in bovine milk is in the range reported for this species, ranging from 6-16 mg/g of total fat depending on the diet.

The profile of acylglycerols in bovine milk showed a bimodal behavior similar to that reported in this species, but not in goats that exhibits a bimodal instead of a unimodal behavior. The result found in buffalo milk was similar to that of bovine.

These results constitute the first report of the lipid composition of milk from cows, buffaloes and goats in Cuba.

 

 

A. Escobar ^I, R. Faure^I, J. Fontecha^II, L.M. Rodríguez^II

^IGrupo Farmacología Toxicología, Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Apartado 10, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.
^IIDepartamento de Bioactividad y Análisis de los Alimentos, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Alimentación (CIAL CSIC-UAM), Nicolás Cabrera, 9. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.