Allen K. Vickers, Agilent Technologies, Folsom, California, USA.
Figure 1
Most authorities currently agree that saturated fatty acids are undesirable in one's diet and that hydrogenated fats can also
be unhealthy. Whereas, some unsaturated fatty acids and particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids fall into the "healthy" category.
Certain unsaturated fatty acids, notably the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, have been said to have beneficial effects. It
has therefore become increasingly important to develop analytical procedures that can unambiguously differentiate the various
geometric and positional forms of dietary fatty acids. However, trans-unsaturated isomers, like saturated acids, need to be
limited in our diet as they are linked to cardiovascular disease. Figure 1 and Tables 1 and 2 describe an analysis for the
identification of fatty acids (as their methyl ester derivatives, FAMEs) in a commercially available fish oil/omega-3 and
omega-6 dietary supplement using a 60 m HP-88 column. Good resolution is obtained for the essential fatty acids of interest,
but also noted is the presence of several trans isomers, indicating that the source of the oils is perhaps adulterated or
otherwise not of "virgin" quality.
Table 1
Table 2
Conclusion
A 60 m HP-88 column used for the identification of fatty acids in a commercially available fish oil/omega-3 and omega-6 dietary
supplement obtained good resolution for the essential fatty acids of primary interest.
