Household coverage of vitamin A fortification of edible oil in Bangladesh.

Mandatory fortification of edible oil (soybean and palm) with vitamin A was decreed in Bangladesh in 2013. Yet, there is a dearth of data on the availability and consumption of vitamin A fortifiable oil at household level across population sub-groups. To fill this gap, our study used a nationally representative survey in Bangladesh to assess the purchase of fortifiable edible oil among households and project potential vitamin A intake across population sub-groups. Data is presented by strata, age range and poverty-the factors that potentially influence oil coverage. Across 1,512 households, purchase of commercially produced fortifiable edible oil was high (87.5%). Urban households were more likely to purchase fortifiable oil (94.0%) than households in rural low performing (79.7%) and rural other strata (88.1%) (p value: 0.01). Households in poverty were less likely to purchase fortifiable oil (82.1%) than households not in poverty (91.4%) (p <0.001). Projected estimates suggested that vitamin A fortified edible oil would at least partially meet daily vitamin A estimated average requirement (EAR) for the majority of the population. However, certain population sub-groups may still have vitamin A intake below the EAR and alternative strategies may be applied to address the vitamin A needs of these vulnerable sub-groups. This study concludes that a high percentage of Bangladeshi population across different sub-groups have access to fortifiable edible oil and further provides evidence to support mandatory edible oil fortification with vitamin A in Bangladesh.

Cost implications of alternative sources of (n-3) fatty acid consumption in the United States.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 provides authoritative advice on what Americans should eat to stay healthy. These guidelines provide a quantitative recommendation to consume 250 mg/d of (n-3) fatty acids (also known as omega-3 fatty acids). To achieve this goal, Americans would need to more than triple the amount of EPA and DHA currently consumed. This paper assessed the cost implications of increased levels of EPA and DHA from marine and nonmarine food sources using data from the 2007-2008 NHANES, USDA nutrient data base, and the USDA Center for the Nutrition Policy and Promotion food price data. Stearidonic acid (SDA)-enhanced soybean oil is a lower cost alternative to commonly consumed marine food as a source of EPA. In addition, given that SDA-enhanced soybean oil is intended to be used as an ingredient in a variety of products, this may enable consumers to increase consumption of EPA through commonly consumed foods.

Changes in consumption of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the United States during the 20th century.

BACKGROUND: The consumption of omega-3 (n-3) and omega-6 (n-6) essential fatty acids in Western diets is thought to have changed markedly during the 20th century. OBJECTIVE: We sought to quantify changes in the apparent consumption of essential fatty acids in the United States from 1909 to 1999. DESIGN: We calculated the estimated per capita consumption of food commodities and availability of essential fatty acids from 373 food commodities by using economic disappearance data for each year from 1909 to 1999. Nutrient compositions for 1909 were modeled by using current foods (1909-C) and foods produced by traditional early 20th century practices (1909-T). RESULTS: The estimated per capita consumption of soybean oil increased >1000-fold from 1909 to 1999. The availability of linoleic acid (LA) increased from 2.79% to 7.21% of energy (P < 0.000001), whereas the availability of α-linolenic acid (ALA) increased from 0.39% to 0.72% of energy by using 1909-C modeling. By using 1909-T modeling, LA was 2.23% of energy, and ALA was 0.35% of energy. The ratio of LA to ALA increased from 6.4 in 1909 to 10.0 in 1999. The 1909-T but not the 1909-C data showed substantial declines in dietary availability (percentage of energy) of n-6 arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Predicted net effects of these dietary changes included declines in tissue n--3 highly unsaturated fatty acid status (36.81%, 1909-T; 31.28%, 1909-C; 22.95%, 1999) and declines in the estimated omega-3 index (8.28, 1909-T; 6.51, 1909-C; 3.84, 1999). CONCLUSION: The apparent increased consumption of LA, which was primarily from soybean oil, has likely decreased tissue concentrations of EPA and DHA during the 20th century.

Randomized clinical trial of intravenous soybean oil alone versus soybean oil plus fish oil emulsion after gastrointestinal cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND: Specific immunonutrients may reduce the incidence of postoperative complications and shorten recovery time. This randomized trial evaluated the clinical efficacy of a fish oil emulsion on outcome and immune function after gastrointestinal cancer surgery. METHODS: A total of 206 patients with gastrointestinal or colonic cancer were randomized to receive isocaloric and isonitrogenous intravenous infusions of either soybean oil alone (1.2 g per kg bodyweight per day; control group, 103 analysed) or soybean plus fish oil emulsion (1.0 and 0.2 g per kg per day respectively; treatment group, 100 analysed) over 20-24 h daily for 7 days after surgery. RESULTS: Baseline data were comparable in the two groups. There were fewer infectious complications (four versus 12 on day 8; P = 0.066), systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) was significantly less common (four versus 13; P = 0.039) and hospital stay was significantly shorter (mean(s.d.) 15(5) versus 17(8) days; P = 0.041) in the treatment group. Total postoperative medical costs were comparable in the two groups (mean(s.d.) US $ 1269(254) and 1302(324) in treatment and control groups respectively; P = 0.424). The median (interquartile range) difference in CD4/CD8 between days 1 and 8 after surgery was + 0.30 (0.06 to 0.79) in patients receiving fish oil and + 0.20 (-0.19 to 0.55) in controls (P = 0.021). No severe adverse events occurred in either group. CONCLUSION: Fish oil emulsion-supplemented parenteral nutrition significantly reduced SIRS and length of hospital stay. These clinical benefits may be related to normalization of cellular immune functions and modulation of the inflammatory response.