Migration of health promoting microconstituents from frying vegetable oils to French fries

Fried foods, especially French fries, are consumed worldwide with sustainable popularity, correlated to their unique sensory properties. During frying the oil is absorbed by the food and becomes part of our diet. Concerns regarding the fried foods quality due to the accumulation of by-products resulting from frying oil deterioration are adequately justified. Given the consumers' preference it is however worth exploiting the presence of health promoting components in fried foods and worth studying factors that might increase those microconstituents content. French fries contain vitamin E, phytosterols and depending on the oil used, polyphenols, squalene, triterpenes, and carotenoids. Tocopherols and phytosterols content of French fries comply with the respective oil content; polyphenols seem to survive better inside the food tissue than in the oil, thus presenting higher concentrations in the former. The concentrations of these compounds in French fries are mainly affected by the oil type, oil quality, and the frying procedure adopted. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.