Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXV, Issue 1
Written by Corina Maria DĂNILĂ, Gheorghe Emil MĂRGINEAN, Monica Paula MARIN, Carmen Georgeta NICOLAE, Livia VIDU
The fatty acids in milk from various species of domestic animals have many important benefits for the human body. The physical chemical characteristics of milk are influenced by many factors: animal nutrition, lactation period, storage conditions and treatments to which it has been subjected. Milk fat is directly determined by the characteristics and the different proportion of fatty acids in its composition. The fat contains over 70 different fatty acids, which sets it apart from all other animal fats. Fats are of vegetable and animal origin, vegetable fats are generally liquid (oils) and animal fats are solid (lard, butter). Fatty acids are of two types saturated and unsaturated. The saturated ones have only simple sigma type bonds (butyric, capronic, caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic acid, etc.). Unsaturated acids contain a pi bond and have longer chains (palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, etc.). It was found that cow's milk has a low fatty acid content of about 2-3%. This paper is a review of the fatty acid content of milk from different species and their importance.
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