DISTRIBUTION OF ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS 831 



Table 3 



The Relative Maximum Amounts of Essential Fatty Acids in Hydrogenated 

 Fats and in Butters, as Determined by Analysis and by Bioassay 



Values by analysis 



Total essential 



Linoleic Linolenic Arachidonic fatty acids by 



Hydrogenated fats or batters acid acid acid bioassay 



Hydrogenated fats" 



Coconut oil 



Margarine oil I 



Margarine oil II 



Margarine oil 



Margarine oil 



Shortening (selective) 



Shortening (non-selective) 



Shortening (Prime.x)'' 

 Butters 



Butterfat I" 



Butterfat II« 



Summer butterfat I<^ 



Summer butterfat 11" 



Summer butterfat III'' 

 Milk fat (cow)'' 

 Milk fat (goat)'* 

 Milk fat (human)'' 



" Data are from H. J. Deuel, Jr., S. M. Greenberg, L. Anisfeld, and D. Melnick, J . 

 Nutrition, 45, 535-550 (1951). Essential acids (bioassay) are expressed as % linoleic 

 acid. Analytical values are determined spectrophotometrically for dienes, trienes, and 

 tetraenes. 



* Data from R. O. Simmons and F. A. Quackenbush, / Am. Oil Chemists' Soc, 30, 

 614-616 (1953). A chromatographic separation of saturated acids, oleic, linoleic, and 

 linolenic acids by the use of 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfenyl chloride derivatives. Total 

 analysis was as follows: saturated acids, 15.8%; oleate, 56.2%; linoleate, 20.5%; 

 and Unolenate, 0%. 



'^ Data are from H. J. Thomasson, Intern. Z. Vitaminforsch., 25, 62-82 (1953). 

 Bioassay values of essential fatty acids are e.xpressed in units (1 Unit = activity of 10 

 mg. linoleic acid) which are practically identical with % composition. Analytical val- 

 ues, determined spectrophotometrically, except values for arachidonic acid, are for four 

 or more double bonds. 



"^ Unless otherwise noted, data are from the summary of H. J. Deuel, Jr., Nutritional 

 Significance of the Fats, Progress in the Chemistry of Fats and Other Lipids, 2, 99-192 

 (1954), and from H. J. Deuel, Jr., The Role of Fat in Human Nutrition, in A. E. Bailey, 

 Cottonseed and Cottonseed Products, Interscience, New York and London, 1948, 763-811. 

 Dashes indicate that no data are available. 



content as determined by the thiocyanogen method was found to 

 vary from 23.4% to 1.8%, with an average of 10.9%. In the case of 

 various hydrogenated shortenings, Andrews and Richardson-^'* re- 

 ported a linoleate content ranging from 22.4% to 2.9% for sixty samples, 

 with an overall average of 11.6%. However, no bioassay data are 



