Commercial fast food and traditional snack food of Bangladesh: I. content of cholesterol and triacylglycerol

Abstract

Bangladeshi commercial fast food (FF) and traditional snack food (TS) were analyzed
for their content of total fat, cholesterol and triacylglycerol. Analysis was done by
standard biochemical methods. A total of 184 samples from 18 items of these
foodstuffs were examined. Results show that commercial Bangladeshi FF of westerntype
have proportionately high cholesterol especially In chicken sandwich (230.6 mg),
chicken hotdog (165.6 mg), fried chicken (132.3 mg) and chicken burger (119.8 mg)
per 100 gm edible portion. Some commercial TS also contained high amount of
cholesterol e.g., beef kebab (112.4 mg), beef samocha (89.1 mg) and kalojam (80.5
mg). The source of cholesterol in the fat fraction was basically animal fat from meat
(as ingredient) and cooking oil (used in processing). In general, the results showed a
wide variability In the content of total fat and disproportionate variation in the
content o f cholesterol and triacyglycerol among different items. The lipid content
when compared with the recommended dietary intake revealed that majority of the FF
provided at least 25% and TS provided at least 15% of the recommended intake.