Abstract
The relationship between the dietary consumption of unsaturated fatty acids with <em>trans</em> configuration and increased risk of coronary heart diseases, cancer, diabetes mellitus among others is well established. The sources of intake of trans fats mainly include foods produced using partially hydrogenated oils, fried snack s and baked goods. Fried and baked foods available at eateries, restaurants and sold by roadside vendors are very popular among Sri Lankans. Moreover, home-made fried foods are regularly consumed in the country. Furthermore, reuse of frying oils also contributes to generation of trans fats. Therefore, fried foods are suspected to contain high quantities of <em>trans</em> fat. The present study was designed to quantify the <em>trans</em> fat level of selected processed foods collected from Colombo district. The total fat (saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA)) and <em>trans</em> fatty acid (TFA) contents of food samples were analyzed using GLC. <em>Trans</em> fat content ranged from 0.00 – 1.50 g/100 g in food samples tested. The highest <em>trans</em> fat content was observed in chilli paste samples. Fried rice, collected from Colombo district also contained 0.91 g/100 g of food. It was revealed that the other food items contain <1g / 100 g of trans fatty acid.
Highlights
The relationship between the dietary consumption of trans fatty acids with increased risk of coronary heart diseases, cancer and diabetes mellitus has been reported (De Souza et al, 2015)
Thirty food items from Colombo district were analyzed for total fat content, trans fatty acids (TFA), saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA)
It was revealed that chilli paste contained the highest quantity of trans fatty acid which is equivalent to 1.57 g/ 100 g of fat
Summary
The relationship between the dietary consumption of trans fatty acids with increased risk of coronary heart diseases, cancer and diabetes mellitus has been reported (De Souza et al, 2015). With revelation of the adverse health effects associated with trans-fat consumption many western countries implemented strict regulations aiming at reducing trans fats in their food supply. Identifying the risk associated with trans fats, the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) implemented strict legislations to reduce trans fats in 2006 (Kavanagh et al, 2007) and subsequently many other countries formulated their national legislations restricting the trans fat content in their food supply (Wanders et al, 2017). In Sri Lanka, currently there are no legislations to regulate trans fat levels in foods. The public awareness of the trans fat levels of foods and its health consequences is lacking
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