Effect of dietary triacylglycerol fatty acid positional distribution on plasma lipid classes and their fatty acid composition in preterm infants.

Seven premature infants were each fed, for 1 wk in a crossover design. The f3 formula contained tniacylglycerols resembling the stereoisomenic structure of human milk fat (25.4% by wt 16:0, 76.1% ofwhich is at the sn-2 position), whereas in the a formula 87.3% of total 16:0 (25.7% by wt was at the sn-1,3 positions. Plasma lipids and their fatty acid compositions were determined at the end of each I wk study period. Infants fed with the 13 formula had higher percentages of palmitic acid in plasma sterol esters, tniacylglycerols, and free fatty acids, and lower lino- leic acid in tniacylglycerols than with the a formula. Premature infants fed formulas with triacylglycerols 16:0 predominantly in the sn-2 rather than the sn-1,3 positions had alterations in their plasma fatty acids consistent with enhanced absorption of 16:0 from the sn-2 compared with the sn-1,3 positions. Am J Cliii Nutr 1995;62;77fr-81.