Fatty acid composition of Danish margarines and shortenings, with special emphasis on trans fatty acids.

Trans fatty acids from hydrogenated vegetable and marine oils could be as hypercholesterolemic and atherogenic as saturated fatty acids. Hence, it is important to know the fatty acid composition in major food contributors, e.g., margarines and shortenings. In 1992 margarines were examined, and in 1995 brands covering the entire Danish market were examined. Significant amounts of trans-18:1 were found only in hard margarines (mean: 4.2 +/- 2.8%) and shortenings (mean: 6.8 +/- 3.1%), whereas the semisoft and soft margarines contained substantially less trans-18:1 in 1995 than in 1992. Where marine oils had been used to a larger degree the mean trans-monoenoic content was about 15%, of which close to 50% was made up of long-chain (C20 and C22) trans fatty acids. A noteworthy decrease in the content of trans-18:1 had occurred for the semisoft margarines, from 9.8 +/- 6.1% in 1992 to 1.2 +/- 2.2% in 1995. Calculated from sales figures, the supply of trans-18:1 plus saturated fatty acids from margarines has decreased over this three-year period by 1.4 g/day, which has been replaced by cis monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.