Bioactive lipids naturally occurring in bovine milk

Bioactive properties of food components increasingly gain in importance in the modern diet. Bovine milk fat (BMF) exhibits bioactive substances mainly in the class of fatty acids. Currently, most interest is addressed to trans fatty acids (TFA) and particularly conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) with BMF being the main source of CLA in food. Whereas saturated fatty acids (C12–C16) and TFA are reported to be positively correlated (negatively for oleic acid) with atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease, CLA are regarded as potent anticarcinogens. Also butyric acid (C4) as well as some phospholipids and ether lipids present in BMF are thought to have anticarcinogenic properties. Furthermore, BMF contains the essential fatty acids C18 : 2 n-6 and C18 : 3 n-3 that have many and diverse functions in human metabolism and, thus, control a variety of biochemical and physiological processes. Altogether, BMF contains approximately 75 wt% of bioactive substances. However, the overall impact on human health can hardly be assessed.