Analysis of Trans fatty acid in some foods by attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

Trans fatty acids (TFA) are unsaturated fatty acids containing at least one double bond in the Trans configuration. TFA are commonly found in bakery products, shortenings, margarines and cooking oils. High consumption of diet high in TFA has been shown to be associated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Due to these reported detrimental health effects of diets high in TFA, twenty four samples of bakery products and six samples of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils available at the market in Bangkok area between September 2007 and February 2008 were investigated on TFA, using attenuated total reflection fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The total TFA content in this study expressed as grams of total TFA per 100 grams of food sample in ten groups of foods were as follows: shortening 1.84-3.37, butter cookie 0.25-5.27, margarine 1.54-1.89, rich butter bun 0.21-0.88 crispy pie 0.41-0.58, brownie 0.18-0.67, croissant 0.14-0.83, cake cream roll 0.16-0.73, cracker ND-0.15, and sandwich chocolate cookie ND-0.14. The mean TFA values in all selected foods ranged from 0.14-2.43 g/100 g food. High amounts of TFA were found in butter cookie (5.07 g/100 g). The US Department of Agriculture recommends that the consumption of TFA should be kept below 1 percent of total energy intake (2.5-3 g/d), therefore consumers should realize and avoid TFA containing products. In order to support decision making regarding risk management, there is a need to continue to assess the contents of TFA in the other categories of fat containing food in Thailand.