Reduction of cholesterol in butter oil by using soybean lecithin

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of the major causes of death. High blood cholesterol increases CVD risk. Consumption of high-cholesterol foods increases blood cholesterol. Therefore, limiting consumption of such foods, or reducing their cholesterol content, will lead to a reduction of CVD risk. Different methods have been presented for cholesterol reduction in foods. The objective of this study was to reduce the cholesterol content of butter oil by using soybean lecithin. Twenty ml distilled water and different amounts of lecithin (5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5 and 20%) were added to 100g melted butter oil, and the resulting mixtures were stirred. The hydrated lecithin thus obtained was then removed by centrifuge. In addition to the lecithin concentration, effects of stirring speed (200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 rpm), stirring time (15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 minutes), centrifuging speed (2000, 2200, 2400, 2600 and 2800 rpm), and centrifuging time (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 min) on the magnitude of cholesterol reduction were studied. Chemical (acid, peroxide, and saponification values) and physical (refractive index and melting point) characteristics of the low- cholesterol butter oil were compared with those of untreated butter oil. Increasing the lecithin concentration up to 17.5% and stirring time up to 75 minutes led to a higher cholesterol reduction. However, longer stirring time decreased significantly the magnitude of cholesterol reduction (p<0.05). The data showed a linear relationship between the magnitude of cholesterol reduction on the one hand and the stirring speed and centrifuging speed and time on the other. As regards the chemical and physical characteristics, only the acid value of the low-cholesterol butter oil was higher than that of the untreated butter oil. Other characteristics of the 2 butter oils were not significantly different. Based on the findings of this study, the optimum conditions for cholesterol reduction of butter oil are a lecithin concentration of 10%, a stirring speed of 600 rpm, a stirring time of 45 min, a centrifuging speed of 2400 rpm, and a centrifuging time of 15 minutes. Under these conditions, the cholesterol content of butter oil can be reduced by 78.6%.