African Journal of
Food Science

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Food Sci.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0794
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJFS
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 983

Article in Press

DETERMINATION OF CHOLESTEROL AND HEAVY METALS CONTENTS OF SOME SELECTED FAST FOOD SOLD IN NIGERIA, A CASE STUDY FCT ABUJA

Abubakar M. and Mal. A.O Amazat

  •  Received: 17 September 2021
  •  Accepted: 10 November 2021
It is obvious that today, the food pattern of Nigerians is no doubt, gradually changing, especially in the big cities. The appetite for this eating culture has been affected by the fast food outlets that are located in our urban cities such as Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna and Kano etc. It is increasingly difficult for working men and women, people in business, students and various classes of people to find time to do the cooking they need. This study is aimed to determining the cholesterol and some heavy metals contents in some selected fast foods sold in Nigeria. Twenty fast food samples were collected from 4 different fast food restaurants within Abuja city. Cholesterol and heavy metals was analyszed using UV Spectrophotometer (2800 double been) and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (Modex 210 VEP). The results show that three of the samples had cholesterol levels lower then 1mg/ml equivalent to 100mg/dl while cholesterol levels of the remaining seventeen samples ranged between 1-34mg/ml of the cholesterol contents. However, Mr. Biggs samples have the highest cholesterol content. The result of Chicken Pie from the four restaurants have the following cholesterol mean value (34.092mg/ml), 27.887mg/ml), (9.948mg/ml) and 21.426mg/ml) are significantly different from one another at (P<=0.05). The result of Heavy metals contents shows that both Fe and Zn (are within the dietary required intake.

Keywords: Cholesterol, Saturated fat, Heavy metals, Fast food