Comprehensive studies on the trans fatty acid content of Austrian foods: Convenience products, fast food and fats

Abstract

Due to reported detrimental health effects of diets high in trans fatty acids (TFA) in particular on blood lipids, convenience products, trade margarines, fats for cooking and frying and fast food products available on the Austrian market were comprehensively investigated on TFA, using gas chromatography.About half of the tested convenience products contained less than 1% TFA, one third less than 5%, but almost 5% of the tested products more than 20% TFA. A similar allocation could be found in fast food products, with the highest TFA level of 8.9%. Total TFA of household fats were lower (1.45±1.99%) than fats of industrial use (7.83±10.0%, p<0.001).Compared to investigations in Austria and Germany around 10 years ago the TFA content of the tested foods had decreased significantly. About half of the investigated products contained less than 1% TFA/total fatty acids, however, very high amounts of TFA (>15%) can still be detected and an intake of more that 5g TFA/portion, which has been shown to significantly increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, is easily possible.