Contents of conjugated linoleic acid isomers cis9,trans11 and trans10,cis12 in ruminant and non-ruminant meats available in the Italian market

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers are considered healthy factors due to their anticarcinogenic, anti atherosclerotic and lipolytic effect. A recommended daily intake from 0.8 to 3 g CLA/day/person has been proposed to obtain biological effects in humans. The aim of this work was to provide data on cis9,trans11 (c9,t11 CLA) and trans10,cis12 (t10,c12 CLA) contents in meats collected from Italian large-scale retail trade and completing a food CLA database. In a first trial, beef loin meats were characterised for label information available for consumers: origin (Le., Ireland, France Italy, Piedmont) and sex of animals. No differences were observed for c9,t11 and t10,c12 CLA contents (mg/g fat) of loin meat from male or female. Piedmontese meat showed lower (P<0.05)c9,t11 CLA level (mg/g fat) than Irish and French-Italian meats, whereas similar t10,c12 CLA contents were measured in Piedmontese, Irish and French Italian meats. Successively, meat samples from different animal species (male and female beef, veal, suckling lamb, belly beef, canned beef meat, pork and horse) were characterised for their contents in c9,t11 and t10,c12 CLA. Lamb meat had the highest (P<0.05)c9,t11 CLA content (mg/g fat). The c9,t11 CLA was lower than 2 mg/g fat in veal, pork and horse meats. Low t10,c12 CLA amounts were found in all analysed meat samples. These data provided information to estimate the average daily intake of CLA from meats in an Italian cohort, which can be used in epidemiological studies.