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Published on: May 1, 2017
[Nutritional profile of foods with zero trans fatty acids claim]
Ana Carolina Moron Gagliardi1, Jorge Mancini Filho, Raul D Santos
1Instituto do Coração, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. anacarolg@usp.br
Objective:
To evaluate the composition of fatty acids in some foods available in the Brazilian market in which there was a claimed reduction in the amount of trans fatty acids. Also evaluate whether these foods meet recommended amounts for saturated fat consumption, after reduction of trans fat amounts.
Methods:
Industrialized food (creamy margarine A and B, plant sterol margarine, stuffed sweet biscuit, salty biscuit without stuffing, French fried potatoes and a burger lunch from a multinational chain of 'fast food' all with the allegation of 0% trans fat content were purchased in commercial points and analyzed by gas chromatography.
Results:
Despite the reduction in trans fatty acid amounts, analyzed foods contained large concentrations of saturated fats mainly palmitic acid. Moreover, some of the foods studied showed a n-6/n-3 ratio outside the recommended for atherosclerosis prevention.
Conclusion:
The unrestricted consumption of such foods has strong deleterious health potential. The absence of trans fatty acid label should be viewed with caution and does not mean a release for unrestricted consumption of such foods.
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