Fatty acids in some common food items in Canada.

Abstract

Fat content and fatty acid (FA) composition of 100 common items in 17 food categories from the Canadian retail market were determined. Of these, 52 samples were made from partially hydrogenated fat. Their fat (in parentheses) and trans FA levels were as follows: breads (3.7% fat) 15.7%, hamburger buns (5.5% fat) 26.3%, cakes (8.7-36.7% fat) 10.1-25.7%, candies/chocolates (27.1% fat) 11.1%, cereals (1.3-12.9% fat) 9.2-33.7%, cookies (5.0-40.5% fat) 7.6-38.7%, crackers (9.2-33.0% fat) 13.8-35.4%, donuts (16.6-29.6% fat) 27.7-32.7%, french fries (pre-cooked) (4.3-4.5% fat) 32.8-42.8%, muffins (12.5-23.7% fat) 16.5-24.2%, pizza crusts (6.0-7.2% fat) 22.1-28.8%, shortenings (100% fat) 17.4-20.2%, potato chips (33.2-40.0% fat) 29.7-39.7%, and corn chips (25.0-34.2%) 29.9-33.9%. Generally the sum of saturated and trans FA in the food items made with partially hydrogenated fat was higher than that of the corresponding food items made with unhydrogenated oils. The higher levels of saturates plus trans were at the expense of the essential fatty acids (EFA). The high-fat foods, such as cakes, cookies, crackers, donuts and potato chips, made with partially hydrogenated fat, were substantially lower in EFA and contained relatively higher levels of trans polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In some samples of potato chips and french fries, the level of trans PUFA was almost the same or more than the sum of linoleic and linolenic acids.

TransFatty Acid Content of Selected New Zealand Foods

“…The levels of trans fatty acids in all the sweet biscuits and crackers are relatively low by comparison with U.S. and Canadian products (Enig et al, 1983;Ratnayake et al, 1993). Both pastry and cakes have moderate levels of trans fatty acids in the fat.…”

Assessment of Trans Fatty Acid Content in Widely Consumed Snacks by Gas Chromatography in a Developing Country

“…In studies done in Australia and Canada high level of TFA was found in over 10% of food items analyzed and the authors also found great variability in TFA content in crackers, doughnuts and chocolate wafer biscuits. Earlier studies have also reported varied TFA level within similar food items due to type of oil used in preparation [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. These variability reflects the difficulty in assessing TFA intake in a population especially by dietary methods which depend on food composition tables.…”

Postprandial response of trans fatty acids in prepubertal obese children

“…5 These foods are a major source of trans and saturated fatty acids; together, they account for over 50% of total fat intake in many samples. 24 One of the aims of the present study was to determine whether there was any difference in trans fatty acid intake between obese and control prepubertal children; no statistically significant difference was detected. It must be stressed that, in the present study, estimated dietary trans fatty acid intake in prepubertal Spanish children was lower (less than 1 g/day or 0.4% of total energy) than that reported for adults in other European countries (1.2-6.7 g/day in men and 1.7-4.1 g/day in women, accounting for 0.4-2.5% of total energy intake), 25 and in the United States (2.6% of total energy).…”