Intake of ruminant trans fatty acids in the Danish population aged 1–80 years

Objective: To estimate the intake of ruminant trans fatty acids (TFA) in the Danish population aged 1–80 years. Design: Descriptive study. Subjects: A sex- and age-stratified random sample drawn from the Danish Civil Registration System. A total of 3098 participants (51% female) aged 1–80 years were included. The participation was 66%. Dietary information: A 7-day dietary record. Results: The estimated median intake of ruminant TFA was 1.4 g/day with the 80% central range being from 0.9 to 2.1 among children aged 1–6 years and 1.6 g/day (1.0–2.4) among children aged 7–14 years. The median TFA intake was 1.8 g/day (0.9– 2.9) among adults aged 15–29 years and among adults aged 30–80 years. The intake expressed as percentage of energy intake was 0.8, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.7, respectively. Dairy products were the main source of ruminant TFA. Conclusions: The median intake of ruminant TFA in the Danish population aged 1–80 years is estimated to be 1.7 g/day (0.9– 2.7), corresponding to 0.7% of energy intake (0.5–1.0), with dairy products being the main source of ruminant TFA. Sponsorship: The Danish Heart Foundation (Grants 02-2-9-8-22010 and 03-2-9-4-22087) and the Female Researchers in Joint Action (FREJA) programme from the Danish Medical Research Council. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 19 October 2005; doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602316