DETERMINATION OF CONCENTRATIONS OF LIPID PEROXIDATION PRODUCTS IN ROASTED AND DEEP FRIED FAST FOODS SOLD IN SOUTH-EASTERN NIGERIA

Within a space of three decades, after fast foods consumption became so rampant in southeastern Nigeria, there exists a conspicuous sharp increase in undetailed/unrecorded health complications such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, vascular inflammation, hematological complications and worst of it all untimely death. These have necessitated the need for an in-depth research on any link between these health impediments and the consumption of highly oxidized fatty acids via intake of roasted and ready-made deep-fried fast food as the root cause. The aim of this present research work is to determine the levels of lipid peroxidation products in most roasted and deep-fried fast foods eaten in southeastern Nigeria using thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), conjugated dienes, and hydroperoxide as bio-markers. Our observation reveals that the concentrations of products of lipid peroxidation in deep-fried fast foods were significantly higher than that of roasted fast foods. Our results further depict that fried egg recorded the highest mean value of TBARS among fried food samples, but a non-significant decrease in comparison with the used frying oil, while the other samples exhibited varied values of TBARS in increasing order of fried egg > plantain chips > akara > yam chips>chin-chin > bonus > potatoes chips> doughnut > puff-puff. Moreover, among roasted foods suya meat exhibited the highest concentration of TBARS followed by groundnut and pork meat. This research work indicates that glacial acetic acid/water solvent mixture extracted a significant concentration of conjugated dienes from roasted bread fruit, baked cake, and fried doughnut, in comparison with methanol/chloroform extracts that gave the highest extractive mean values of conjugated dienes for roasted bambara nut, groundnut, and suya meat.