ABSTRACT
Objectives: Palm olein, which is the fractionated form of palm oil, is commonly used as cooking oil in Sri Lanka. Processing of crude oil degrades α-tocopherol as does exposure to high heat during cooking. This study was aimed to determine the content and heat degradation of α-tocopherol in Sri Lankan commercially available palm olein. Method: Four different brands of Sri Lankan commercially available palm olein (100 mL) were heated to 180°C for 10 minutes. The oil was subsequently cooled and re-heated five times and assayed in duplicate. Between each cycle of re-heating oil was left in room temperature to cool for 5 hours. Fresh palm olein and the heated samples were analyzed for α-tocopherol content using reversed-phase High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) (Shimadzu, Japan). Results: The mean α-tocopherol content in unheated palm olein was 3.02 ± 0.35 ppm, with no significant differences between brands. Heating Palm olein for 10 minutes resulted in 56.6% reduction in α-tocopherol compared to unheated oil. Re-heating resulted in further reduction with a 100% loss by the fourth time. Conclusion: The Sri Lankan commercially available palm olein did not provide expected α-tocopherol content, and is not a good source of dietary α-tocopherol. Further analysis is required to quantify α-tocopherol content. Since re-heating further reduced α-tocopherol levels, repeated frying during cooking is likely to result in a minimal level of α-tocopherol being provided through palm olein to the diet.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Fundamental to the success of preventive measures in diabetes mellitus, is disease-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). We aimed to assess KAP regarding type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), nutrition and lifestyle in a community-based population of newly diagnosed dysglycemic and normoglycemic women, unaware of their glycemic status at the time of data collection. Methods: Women (2800) aged 30-45 years were screened for dysglycemia using cluster sampling from the Colombo Municipal Council area. All 272 dysglycemic detected through screening and 345 normoglycemic randomly selected from the same screened sample were enrolled. All women were unaware of their glycemic status. The sampling strategy aimed to include adequate numbers of women with altered glycemic status who were unaware of their status at the time of the study. A validated and pretested intervieweradministered questionnaire was used and analyzed using Chi-square test and student’s t-test. Results: KAP on T2DM, nutrition and a healthy lifestyle were poor, particularly knowledge on prediabetes. Some aspects of lifestyle modification were known. Women with a family history compared to those without, had better knowledge (p<0.001) and attitudes (p<0.05), but lower practice scores (p<0.05). Majority of women who found it difficult to resist foods high in fat and sugar, ate while watching television, and a higher proportion of them had a family history (p<0.001). Conclusion: Poor food-related practices observed among those with a family history, despite better knowledge and attitudes indicate a need for targeted intervention. The specific KAP related aspects identified here, can direct future intervention strategies.