Milk and dairy products are major sources of fat in the human diet, but there are few detailed reports on the fatty acid composition of retail milk, trans fatty acids in particular, and how these change throughout the year. Semi-skimmed milk was collected monthly for one year from five supermarkets and analysed for fatty acid composition. Relative to winter, milk sold in the summer contained lower total saturated fatty acid (SFA; 67 vs 72 g/100g fatty acids) and higher cis-monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA; 23 vs 21 g/100g fatty acids) and total trans fatty acid (6.5 vs 4.5 g/100g fatty acids) concentrations. Concentrations of most trans-18:1 and -18:2 isomers also exhibited seasonal variation. Results were applied to national dietary intakes, and indicated that monthly variation in the fatty acid composition of milk available at retail has limited influence on total dietary fatty acid consumption by UK adults.
History
Journal
Food chemistry
Volume
141
Pagination
274-281
Location
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ISSN
0308-8146
eISSN
1873-7072
Language
eng
Publication classification
C Journal article, C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal