Anais do Simpósio Latino Americano de Ciências de Alimentos
Anais do 14 SLACA - Simpósio Latino Americano de Ciência de Alimentos

Cardiovascular diseases are directly related to the increase in LDL cholesterol in the blood, which in turn, may be related, according to some works in literature to the consumption of medium-chain fatty acids and palmitic acid. On the other hand, these fatty acids are also related to better digestion, increasing the popularity of some oils like coconut oil composed by them. Fatty acid profiles of fats and oils are the focus of discussions about how cholesterol levels could rise or fall based on dietary habits. Thus, the aim of this work was to contribute to this discussion from a thermodynamic point of view, where mixtures of cholesterol and these fatty acids (caprylic, capric, myristic and palmitic acid) were formulated at various concentrations and their crystallization and melting profiles were evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and solid-liquid equilibrium phase diagrams were constructed. Based on these phase diagrams, it was possible to analyze observe that fatty acid addition decreased cholesterol melting point from pure cholesterol melting point to pure fatty acid melting point. Also, the smaller medium the chain fatty acid carbon chains, such as found in caprylic, capric and lauric acids the higher the ability of the fatty acid were significantly able to modify the crystal structure of cholesterol through the formation of solid solutions, altering its crystallization and melting profile. Solid solutions were particularly seen in higher cholesterol concentrations, showing that small fractions of these fatty acids particularly contributed to this behavior. In fact, formation of solid solutions during digestion is one of the theories that explains why phytosterols, the most know hypocholesterolemic phytochemical, contributes to blood cholesterol lowering, which is particularly controverse in this case and highlights that more studies are necessary to evaluate the real effects of this medium chain fatty acids.