Effect of industrial processing and storage procedures on oxysterols in milk and milk products

Oxysterols are products of enzymatic and/or chemical cholesterol oxidation. While some of the former possess broad antiviral activities, the latter mostly originate from the deterioration of the nutritional value of foodstuff after exposure to heat, light, radiation and oxygen, raising questions about their potential health risks. We evaluated the presence of selected oxysterols in bovine colostrum and monitored the evolution of their cholesterol ratio throughout an entire industrial-scale milk production chain and after industrially employed storage procedures of milk powders. We report here for the first time the presence of high levels of the enzymatic oxysterol 27-hydroxycholesterol (27OHC) in concentrations of antiviral interest in bovine colostrum (87.04 ng mL(-1)) that decreased during the first postpartum days (56.35 ng mL(-1)). Of note, this oxysterol is also observed in milk and milk products and is not negatively affected by industrial processing or storage. We further highlight an exponential increase of the non-enzymatic oxysterols 7 beta-hydroxycholesterol (7 beta OHC) and 7-ketocholesterol (7KC) in both whole (WMPs) and skimmed milk powders (SMPs) during prolonged storage, confirming their role as reliable biomarkers of cholesterol oxidation over time: after 12 months, 7 beta OHC reached in both SMPs and WMPs amounts that have been found to be potentially toxic in vitro (265.46 ng g(-1) and 569.83 ng g(-1), respectively). Interestingly, industrial processes appeared to affect the generation of 7 beta OHC and 7KC differently, depending on the presence of fat in the product: while their ratios increased significantly after skimming and processing of skimmed milk and milk products, this was not observed after processing whole milk and milk cream.

Automated summary

The study evaluated the presence of oxysterols in bovine colostrum and milk powders, finding high levels of enzymatic oxysterol 27-hydroxycholesterol in colostrum and an exponential increase of non-enzymatic oxysterols in milk powders during storage. Industrial processes were found to affect the generation of oxysterols differently, depending on the fat content in the product.