Evaluation of Palm Oil as a Suitable Vegetable Oil for Vitamin A Fortification Programs
- Author(s)
- Marc Pignitter, Natalie Hernler, Mathias Zaunschirm, Julia Kienesberger, Mark Manuel Somoza, Klaus Kraemer, Veronika Somoza
- Abstract
Fortification programs are considered to be an effective strategy to mitigate vitamin A deficiency in populations at risk. Fortified vegetable oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids were shown to be prone to oxidation, leading to limited vitamin A stability. Thus, it was hypothesized that fortified oils consisting of mainly saturated fatty acids might enhance the stability of vitamin A. Mildly (peroxide value: 1.0 meq O
2/g) and highly (peroxide value: 7.5 meq O
2/kg) oxidized palm oil was stored, after fortification with 60 International Units/g retinyl palmitate, in 0.5 L transparent polyethylene terephthalate bottles under cold fluorescent lighting (12 h/day) at 32 °C for 57 days. An increase of the peroxide value by 15 meq O
2/kg, which was also reflected by a decrease of α-tocopherol congener by 15%–18%, was determined independent of the initial rancidity. The oxidative deterioration of the highly oxidized palm oil during storage was correlated with a significant 46% decline of the vitamin A content. However, household storage of mildly oxidized palm oil for two months did not induce any losses of vitamin A. Thus, mildly oxidized palm oil may be recommended for vitamin A fortification programs, when other sources of essential fatty acids are available.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Physiological Chemistry, Department of Inorganic Chemistry
- External organisation(s)
- Johns Hopkins University, Sight and Life
- Journal
- Nutrients
- Volume
- 8
- No. of pages
- 13
- ISSN
- 2072-6643
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/nu8060378
- Publication date
- 06-2016
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 303009 Nutritional sciences, 104002 Analytical chemistry, 106031 Plant physiology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ed588523-55bb-4c73-99e7-2907a18355fa