ABSTRACT
Antibacterial Fatty Acids ...............................................................................................................328 Antifungal Fatty Acids...................................................................................................................330 Chemical Modifications of Fatty Acids.........................................................................................331 Fatty Acid Structure-Function Activity.........................................................................................332 Antimicrobial Fatty Acid Monoesters ...........................................................................................333 Glycerol Monolaurate (Monolaurin) .............................................................................................336 Mechanism of Action.....................................................................................................................346 Future Applications ........................................................................................................................348 References ......................................................................................................................................352
The word preservative on food product labels seems to evoke a negative reaction from many consumers. Although consumers want natural, fresh products, the ability of the food industry to deliver foods to the marketplace usually depends on adding chemicals to lengthen shelf life. The phrase “chemical additive” does not always mean unnatural or unsafe. One group of chemicals found in nature and considered to have little or no toxicity is the fatty acids and their corresponding esters. Indeed, early records suggest that fatty acids have a long and respected historical record for having antimicrobial activity. In fact, one of the nutritional factors in human milk that both aids infant growth and development (energy source) and acts as a natural antimicrobial is the high level of lauric acid fats. Lauric acid fats provide up to 12% of total fat content in milk and 3.5% to 6.6% of milk calories (Chen et al., 1996). Another high lauric acid fat-containing food is coconut.
