Patent ID: 7709667

Claim:
A method for producing a diacylglycerol-rich fat or oil, the method comprising: reacting an acyl group donor with an acyl group receptor to produce a treated fat or oil; separating unreacted material and byproducts from the treated fat or oil by distillation for use as a part of a starting material in a subsequent cycle of production; recycling the separated unreacted material and byproducts as a part of the starting material in the subsequent cycle of production, separating from a treated fat or oil of the subsequent cycle of production unreacted material and byproducts by distillation, and repeating for two or more times, the recycling of the separated unreacted material and byproducts from the treated fat or oil of the subsequent cycle of production wherein the distillation is conducted (i) such that a content of monoacylglycerol in the fat or oil after a distillation is 0.5 to 15% by weight, and (ii) under a pressure of 2 to 300 Pa, a content of diacylglycerol is at least 40% by weight, and a content of phytosterol is 0.1 to 1.0% by weight.