Cholesterol content and fatty acid profile of chocolates mostly consumed in Turkey Contenido de colesterol y perfil de ácidos grasos de los chocolates más consumidos en Turquía

Abstract

Cholesterol content and fatty acid profile of chocolates that are consumed in Turkey were determined by capillary gas chromatography. Chocolate samples from 20 trade marks were purchased from markets in İzmir, Turkey. As results of the analyses, average cholesterol content of the samples was 1.14 ± 0.14 mg/kg ranging between 0.963 and 1.535 mg/kg. Twenty-three types of fatty acids were determined in oil extracted from chocolates. Main fatty acids found in chocolate samples were stearic acid (39.33 ± 5.25%), oleic acid (25.99 ± 6.89%), and palmitic acid (25.56 ± 2.06%). Total saturated and total unsaturated fatty acid contents of chocolate samples were found as 69.90% and 30.05%, respectively. The fat content of the samples were in the range 31.5–67%. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.