Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Treatment of live animal
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-19
2002-05-21
Cano, Milton I. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Treatment of live animal
C426S623000, C426S630000, C426S635000, C426S636000, C426S807000, C119S006800
Reexamination Certificate
active
06391348
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to the field of animal nutrition. Specifically, the present invention relates to methods of lowering cholesterol levels in animals and food products derived from animals.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As public awareness of the dangers of cholesterol has increased in recent years, a number of popular food products have drawn criticism for containing high levels of cholesterol. Eggs are among the maligned products that have suffered because of a public perception that eggs are unhealthy. This perception has led to decreased consumption by consumers. Although improved analytical techniques indicate that previous cholesterol levels attributed to eggs were inflated, there is still substantial consumer concern about egg cholesterol.
As a result of concern over cholesterol intake, a market has developed for egg products having reduced cholesterol. Many of these reduced cholesterol products are produced using additional processing steps, which add substantial cost to the production process. For example, U.S. Patent No. 5,780,095 to Jackeschky describes such a process.
Attempts have also been made to reduce egg cholesterol by modifying the feed given to the egg-producing animals. For example, fibrous feed ingredients, such as barley, and feed additives, such as copper, wood shavings and human cholesterol reducing agents have been utilized in an effort to reduce egg cholesterol. These feeds have proven disadvantageous for a number of reasons. Unlike corn, barley is not a major cereal source in the United States. Thus, the use of barley increases feed costs. Additionally, the production rate of barley may be insufficient to provide a reliable feed supply. Supplementary feed additives, such as copper, increase feed costs and occupy valuable space during the feed mixing process and increased environmental contamination.
There remains a need in the art for a method of lowering the cholesterol levels in animals and eggs without requiring substantial additional process steps or requiring expensive feed additives.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method of reducing cholesterol in animals and food products derived from such animals. The method includes feeding the animals a low phytate food source so that the phytate phosphorus intake of the animal is reduced. Supplying a food source containing reduced levels of phytate phosphorus decreases the cholesterol level in the animal and in the food products, such as eggs, produced by the animal.
As used herein, “food source” refers to sources that provide a substantial portion of the nutritional and caloric requirements of the animal, rather than sources, such as mineral supplements, that provide limited nutritional and caloric value. For example, food sources useful in the present invention include soybeans or cereal grains such as corn, sorghum, barley, rye, wheat, rice, millet, processed products derived from the above or mixtures thereof. As used herein, “total animal diet” refers to the complete animal diet, including the food sources described above as well as one or more supplements, such as vitamin and mineral supplements, added fat, medications, and the like.
Specifically, the method of reducing cholesterol comprises providing a food source, wherein the food source comprises less than about 0.30 weight percent phytate phosphorus on an as is basis for soybeans, and less than 0.19 weight percent phytate phosphorus on an as is basis for other food sources. The food source is fed to the animal such that the cholesterol of the animal is reduced. The animal may be any animal that would benefit from a reduction of cholesterol.
A method of producing eggs having reduced cholesterol is also provided. The method includes providing a food source as described above, feeding the food source to an egg-producing animal and collecting at least one egg produced by the animal.
The egg yolks produced by the above method have at least about 8% less total cholesterol as compared to a normal egg yolk, preferably at least 15% less total cholesterol, and most preferably at least 20% less total cholesterol. Similarly, eggs produced by the above process have at least about 6% less low density lipoprotein as compared to a normal egg and preferably at least about 15% less low density lipoprotein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter. However, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
The present invention is directed to a method of reducing cholesterol in animals, including non-ruminant and ruminant animals, as well as a method of reducing the cholesterol level in food products derived from such animals, such as meat, milk, and eggs. The term “non ruminant” animals includes, but is not limited to, dogs, cats, humans, swine, and poultry, such as chickens, turkeys, etc. Ruminant animals, such as cattle and sheep, may also benefit from the present invention.
Phosphorus is an essential dietary ingredient for maintaining animal health. The phosphorus content in animal food sources, such as corn, may be divided into two types: available phosphorus and phytate phosphorus. Available phosphorus is that portion of the phosphorus content that may be metabolized and used by animals.
The majority of phosphorus found in many animal food sources, such as corn and soybeans, is in the form of phytate phosphorus. For example, phytate phosphorus accounts for approximately 65% of total phosphorus found in many cereal grains (and more than 80% in corn). Monogastric animals, such as poultry, do not possess the necessary phytase enzymes in quantities that would allow these animals to utilize phytate phosphorus as a source of phosphorus. As a result, the diets of many food-producing animals are supplemented with additional amounts of phosphorus, such as dicalcium phosphate, to encourage normal growth and development. It has been noted that the increased level of phosphorus in the diets of these animals presents phosphorus run-off problems on land fertilized with animal manure.
In order to reduce the phosphorus run-off problem, it is proposed to feed animals food sources which have low amounts of phytate phosphorus either in the form of naturally-occurring low phytate food sources or in the form of specially bred or genetically altered food sources.
A low phytate phosphorus corn mutation has been developed by the USDA and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,054 to Raboy, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Additionally, U.S. application Ser. No. 09/118,442, filed on Aug. 17, 1998 and assigned to the same Assignee as the present invention, is directed to the identification and use of genes encoding various enzymes involved in the metabolism of phytate in plants and the use of these genes and mutants thereof to reduce the levels of phytate and/or increase the levels of available phosphorus in food sources. The above-described patent application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Low phytate soybeans are disclosed in WO 98/45448.
Surprisingly, it has been discovered that low phytate phosphorus food sources also serve to reduce cholesterol levels in the animals, as well as in food products produced by the animals. For example, it has been shown that low phytate food sources reduce serum and meat cholesterol levels, as well as cholesterol levels in eggs. This is particularly surprising in light of studies conducted with rats indicating that dietary phytate either reduces serum cholesterol levels or has no effect at all. See Katayama et al.,
Biosci. Biotech. Biochem.,
59 (6), 1159-1160 (1995).
As evidenced by the above-described patent and patent application, phytate phosphorus levels can be altered by breeding or genetic manipulation. The low phyta
Beach Larry R.
Crum Roger C.
Ertl David S.
Hinds Mark A.
Huff William Edward
Alston & Bird LLP
Cano Milton I.
Madsen Robert
Pioneer Hi-Bred International , Inc.
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