Trans, n‐3, and n‐6 fatty acids in canadian human milk

Abstract

The presence of trans fatty acids in human milk may be a concern because of their possible adverse nutritional and physiological effects on the recipient infant. The mother's diet is the source of human milk trans fatty acids, and since these fatty acids are prevalent in many common foods of the Canadian diet, the trans fatty acid content and the fatty acid composition of Canadian human milk were measured by gas-liquid chromatography coupled with silver nitrate-thin layer chromatography. In samples obtained from 198 lactating mothers across Canada, the average percentage of total trans (sum of t18:1, t18:2, and t18:3) was 7.2% of breast milk fatty acids with a range of 0.1-17.2%. Analysis of t18:1 isomer distribution indicated that partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are the major source of these trans fatty acids in human milk, whereas contribution from dairy products appeared to be relatively minor. Linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid levels were inversely related to the total trans fatty acids, indicating that the elevation of trans fatty acids in Canadian human milk is at the expense of n-3 and n-6 essential fatty acids. Levels of arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids did not correlate with their parent fatty acids, indicating that it might be difficult to elevate the levels of n-6 and n-3 c20-22 polyunsaturated fatty acids in breast milk by increasing levels of linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids in the mother's diet.

Follow‐up of the Δ4 to Δ16 trans‐18∶1 isomer profile and content in French processed foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils during the period 1995–1999. Analytical and nutritional implications

“…16%, which is higher than the content of vaccenic acid that accounts for approximately 14%. Considering the ∆6 to ∆8 group, it is likely that the ∆8 is the predominant isomer (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). All other isomers are less than 10%, and appear rather variable quantitatively.…”

“…A drawback of this procedure was that the shortest volatile fragments were prone to losses, and correction factors had to be applied to compensate for the unequal response of the flame-ionization detector vis à vis methylene and carboxylic groups. However, until recently, this analytical procedure was frequently applied to PHVO from several countries to gain insight into the trans-as well as the cis-18:1 isomer distributions (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30).…”

Fatty acid composition of human milk in Western Iran

“…In the milk of African women also high levels of C12 and C14 fatty acids (20-30%) have been reported (Koletzko et al, 1992). Trans fatty acids are mainly produced during industrial hydrogenation of vegetable oils and their presence in the human milk comes mainly from the diet (Aitchison et al, 1977;Lawrence, 1994;Ratnayake & Chen, 1996;Mojska, 2003). In communities with high consumption of hydrogenated vegetable oils, milk levels of trans fatty acids are expectedly high.…”

“…In communities with high consumption of hydrogenated vegetable oils, milk levels of trans fatty acids are expectedly high. Therefore, there is a wide variations in the trans fatty acid content of the breast milk in different populations ranging from high as in Canadians (Chen et al, 1995;Ratnayake & Chen, 1996) with a mean of 7.2%, and Americans (Broschel et al, 1986;Jensen et al, 1992) to low amounts (4.4%) as in Western German (Koletzko et al, 1988), Spanish and French women (Boatella et al, 1993;Chardigny et al, 1995). Linoelaidic (18:2TT) and elaidic acid (18:1T) are the main trans fatty acids produced during partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils; however, linoelaidic acid (18:2TT) was not detectable in about half of our samples.…”

Biotechnological Strategies for the Modification of Food Lipids

“…Tran.v fatty acids seem to be metabolized as efficiently as other faUy acids, but may impair desaturation and elongation of LA to arachidonic acid (AA), thereby affecting eicosanoid production and growth (Desci and Koletzko, 1995;Ratnayake and Chen, 1996). The negative effects ofTF As on adults are decreased concentrations of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and increased concentrations of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.…”