[Consumer available margarines in Italy. Note 1: Fatty acid composition and trans-isomers content (author's transl)]

The most used consumer available margarines in Italy, showed important differecens regarding composition of the saturated (S.F.A.) and trans-unsaturated (T.U.F.A.) fatty acids. The ratio S.F.A./U.F.A. correlated well to the T.U.F.A. content. The margarines with the higher U.F.A. values presented also the higher T.U.F.A. values and corresponded to those prepared from a single seed oil (peanut, corn, sunflower). The monounsaturated fatty acids are composed of a mixture of geometrical and positional isomers with the unsaturation at any C atom between C6 and C16.