Total Trans Fat Content in Commercially Available Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils

Abstract

2 Abstract: In the domain of food, many efforts were conducted in the past to study the diet and health linkages. However, the variety of food components and their effects on human metabolism demands thorough research scientist to bring systematic and coherent information for the end-user. Thus current research was performed to determine the total Trans fat content in selected brands of hydrogenate d vegetable oils which are more popular among people of Pakistan. Five different brands for each of vegetable ghee and margarine were analyzed for assorted physicochemical characteristics and total trans fat content in hydrogenated vegetable oils available in Pakistan. Results showed that physicochemical characteristics varied significantly according to commercial brands. Specific gravity and refractive index revealed non significant variations. Among vegetable ghee samples, the highest value for melting point was found in V3 (37.0°C) and lowest value was observed in the V2 (35.6°C). On the other hand, for margarine it ranged from 37.1-49.7°C. Highest acid value and FFA contents were recorded in M1 (0.25%, 0.5%) and V5 (0.24%, 0.46%). Pakistani vanaspati has iodine value 69% while margarine has 64.7% Total trans fat content was significantly higher for all vegetable ghee, ranged from 5.36-33.03% and in margarine samples these varied from 1.56-23.99%. In the nutshell, quality and stability of V2 and M2 brand from vegetable ghee and margarine was found good and also trans fat content were low in these brands.