(160e) Nutritional Safety of the Oxidized Compounds of Ultra-Processed Foods in the Western Diet

In recent years, a significant increase in the consumption of ultra-processed, calorie-dense, and nutrition-poor food has been noticed in developed countries (Juul et al., 2018; Setyowati et al., 2018). The term “Western diet” has been associated, and eventually, adopted as a term to describe the modern standard American diet. It is characterized by inexpensive ultra-processed foods, high in caloric energy, and lacking essential nutrients needed (Hintze et al., 2012). Even though different processing techniques such as thermal treatments, light exposure, storage, and aging are designed to improve food quality, nutrition, and safety; they may lead to the generation and accumulation of certain chemical compounds able to exert toxic activities against human health (Maldonado-Pereira et al., 2018). This is the case of cholesterol oxidation products (COPs). Exogenous COPs are obtained through the ingestion of animal-derivatives foods, making diet a key factor in the study of these compounds. COPs have been related to different chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, among others. Therefore, COPs profile in Western diet’s foods is an essential step in the nutritional safety analysis of US diet. The aim of this study was to quantify the oxidative load of most consumed ultra-processed (UP) food in the Western diet by a lipidomic approach. A total of 62 ultra-processed foods 39 Ready to Eat (RTE) items and 23 Fast Foods (FF) meals) were analyzed and results compared with both their nutritional fact labels and USDA database. Secondary oxidation products were measured by the Thiobarbituric acid (TBARs) assay. Quantification of Fatty Acids Methyl Esther (FAME) was performed by Gas Chromatography (GC) means. Profiling of Cholesterol Oxidation Products (COPs) was performed by GC-MS.

RTE fat values were similar to those described in the item’s nutritional fact label. Forty six percent of the RTE items (17 out of 39 RTE items) showed a higher value compared to the value shown in the nutritional label. For the FF group, a 74% of the FF meals showed a higher lipid content (for 17 FF meals out of 23 compared to the fat value) compared to what the nutritional information stablished. Overall, SFAs was the group with the highest percentages within the RTE, followed by MUFAs, and lastly, PUFAs. MUFAs was the group with the highest percentages within the FF meals, followed by SFAs, and lastly, PUFAs. For the TBARS assay, RTE items showed a higher MDA content compared to FF meals as it can be observed from the MDA values. However, more FF meals showed “no-presence” of MDA, potentially meaning the conversion of MDA molecules into further oxidation products.

Six phytosterols (Campesterol, Stigmasterol, Brassicasterol, b-Sitosterol, Fucosterol, and b-Tocopherol) were quantified for FF meals and RTE items. b-Sitosterol was the the phytosterol with the highest quantities within the FF meals, and b-Sitosterol was the the phytosterol with the highest quantities within the RTE items. Sixteen FF meals out of 23 showed a higher cholesterol content compared to the value found in either the USDA webpage, the FF’s nutritional webpages, or other Food Nutrition webpages used for this analysis (Eat this much (DeMenthon, n.d.) and Fast Food Nutrition (Lenhoff, 2005)). Two items (KFC’s mashed potato and McDonald’s hotcakes) showed cholesterol values of 90.13 and 268.72 mg/100 g fat, respectively; even when their cholesterol content in each official FF webpage stablished that these items have 0 mg/100 g fat.

Nine RTE items out of 39 showed a higher cholesterol content compared to the value found in the item’s nutrition fact label (598.42 ± 126.63 mg/100 g fat – Oscar Mayer’s salami, 102.60 ± 18.68 mg/100 g fat – Hellmann’s mayonnaise, 276.81 ± 1.83 mg/100 g fat – Praire Farms’s butter, 307.81 ± 3.54 mg/100 g fat – Campbell’s beans and bacon soup, 300.53 ± 20.51 mg/100 g fat – Meijer’s macaroni salad, 2,135.58 ± 168.32 mg/100 g fat – Kroger’s chicken noodle soup, 1,247 ± 227.45 mg/100 g fat – Beech Nut’s beef and broth baby food, and 313.34 ± 27.54 mg/100 g fat – Gerber’s turkey and vegetables. Gerber’s strawberry-banana yogurt showed a cholesterol content of 316.80 ± 0.40 mg/100 g fat when the USDA food database said there was 0 mg/100 g fat.

Eight different COPs (7a-OH, 7b-OH, 5,6a-Epoxy, 5,6b-Epoxy, triol, 7-Keto, and 24 methylenecholesterol, and 6-Keto) were determined in FF meals and RTE items by GC-MS operated in SIM mode. In FF meals, total COPs content reached values up to 10.81 ± 1.52 mg/100g fat (roast beef, ham & provolone sandwich – Panda Express). On the contrary, the lowest amount was 0.28 ± 0.059 mg/100g fat (Domino’s Pizza – Pepperoni pizza). For RTE items, the highest value for total COPs was Beech Nut’s turkey and broth baby food with 14.41 ± 4.37 mg/100 g fat. The lowest COPs contents were: 0 mg/ 100 g fat for both RTE items, Countryside Creamery margarine, and Purple Cow vanilla ice cream.

Cholesterol oxidation by different cooking processes and addition of spices and ingredients was followed by both TBARS and FAME quantifications COPs concentrations were positively associated with cholesterol concentration. However, the association was (correlation = 0.504), indicating that food matrix and food processing play a role in the formation of COPs. Results showed that different processing conditions of UP foods result in the formation of high amount of COPs and other oxidized derivatives such as phytosterols oxidation products (POPs), which were also identified in our samples. UP foods are produced under different and variable conditions. Therefore, an expansion of this data base is vital to know their occurrence in the Western Diet, together with a dietary exposure analysis of these compounds, ensuring food quanlity and human’s food safety.

References:

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2. Setyowati, D., N. Andarwulan, and P.E. Giriwono, Processed and ultraprocessed food consumption pattern in the Jakarta Individual Food Consumption Survey 2014. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2018. 27(4): p. 840-847.
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