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Abstract Results of analytical studies on the composition of 10 selected margarines representative of consumeravailable hard and soft types are presented. Paired hard and soft products from the same manufacturer were chosen where possible. All of the margarines were compared on the basis of total fatty acid composition, polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratios, total trans and the trans content of the monoene and diene fractions, location of the double bond in the monoene isomers, per cent conjugation, distribution of the fatty acids at the 2 position of the triglycerides, tocopherol content, and the ratios of α‐tocopherol to polyunsaturated fatty acids. As expected the soft margarines contained more polyunsaturated fatty acids than their companion hard types, but all soft margarines did not contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids than all of the hard margarines. The one margarine containing safflower oil had the highest polyunsaturated to saturated ratio. Eight of the ten margarines contained more than 15% trans monoene and nine contained less than 5% trans diene. Positional isomers in the monoene fraction were Δ6 toΔ12 with the cis Δ9 isomer predominating. All of the margarines contained less than 1.9% conjugation. The percentage of trans monoene at the 2 position was greater for some margarines than that in the total fatty acid. This was attributed to the preferential placement of polyunsaturated fatty acids at the 2 position in the original vegetable oils. The forms of tocopherol found were characteristic of the original vegetable oils. Ratios of α‐tocopherol to PUFA varied from 0.1 to 0.5 mg/g. Determination of the relationship of the amount of tocopherol content to either source or hardness is not possible on the basis of our data.
Carpenter et al. (1973) studied this question.