L. Staessen et al., FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION OF THE BELGIAN DIET - ESTIMATES DERIVED FROM THE BELGIAN INTERUNIVERSITY RESEARCH ON NUTRITION AND HEALTH, Annals of nutrition & metabolism, 42(3), 1998, pp. 151-159
The major objective of this study was to determine the fatty acid comp
osition of the Belgian diet. Food consumption data from a large repres
entative sample (n = 11,302) of the Belgian population between 25 and
74 years of age (BIRNH study) were analyzed with regard to the intake
of fatty acids. The fatty acid composition of the major fat sources in
the Belgian diet was determined and used to calculate average intakes
for fatty acids from C4 to C22. In addition, results are compared to
other studies and to guidelines for n-3 and n-6 fatty acids. Saturated
fatty acids provide 17% of the energy intake in the Belgian diet, pol
yunsaturated fatty acids 7%, and monounsaturated fatty acids 14%. The
intake of total n-6 fatty acids is very high (6 en%), particularly of
linoleic acid. The intake of n-3 fatty acids is low, only 0.8 en%, whi
ch results in a low ratio of n-3 to n-6 (0.15). The most important sou
rces of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids are margarine and meat, respectively.