A Study on the 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/undocumented health complications that increases the risk of various medical disorders. Those affected are made more susceptible to pathological conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, vascular inflammation, hematological complications and worst of it all untimely death. These have made it necessary to do in-depth study on any correlation between these health issues and intake of fast food as the underlying cause of these pathological conditions. The purpose of the current research is not only 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, but also to take measures towards minimizing/reducing the potential dangers via an increase in awareness of the health risks associated with consumption of highly oxidized fatty acids via intake of these roasted and ready-made deep-fried fast foods among the general public. These were achieved via extraction of lipid peroxidation products from both deep-fried and roasted fast food samples using different solvent mixtures, methanol:chloroform {1:2} and glacial acetic acid:water {1:1}; and lipid peroxidation level measured by determination of both lipid hydroperoxide and conjugated dienes concentrations by FOX-2 assay and a slightly modified method of Buege and Aust [1] respectively. According to our observation, deep-fried fast foods had much higher quantities of these lipid peroxidation by-products than roasted fast foods. Our observation shows that fried egg recorded the highest mean value of TBARS among fried food samples, but a non-significant decrease in comparison with already used frying oil, while the other samples exhibited varied values of TBARS in the increasing order of fried egg > plantain chips > Akara > yam chips>chin-chin > bonus > potatoes chips> doughnut > puff-puff. Furthermore, Suya meat had the highest concentration of TBARS among roasted foods, followed by ground nut and pork meat. When the various extraction solvents used in this study were compared, it was found that glacial acetic acid/water extracts extracted a significant concentration of conjugated dienes from roasted bread fruit, baked cake, and fried doughnuts, whereas methanol/chloroform extracts gave the highest extractive mean values of conjugated dienes for roasted bambara nut, groundnut, and suya meat.