Fatty acid in raw and heated coconut oil in eleven coconut oil food preparations analysed by gas chromatography

The study evaluated the fatty acid profile of raw and heated virgin coconut oil by using eleven food preparations submitted to two treatments: dry and moist, and crude and heat. The fat extraction was performed by the Soxhlet method and the fatty acid profile was analysed using gas chromatography. Kuskal-Wallis test was utilised to evaluate the differences among food preparation methods. The lauric acid was present in the coconut oils analysed (16.07g/L ± 1.28) and in all the preparations in which coconut oil was used. The highest concentration of lauric acid was found in Corn starch cookies (16.60g/L ± 0.32). The cookie and the cake were the preparations that showed the lowest concentration, 6.14 g/L ± 0.05 and 5.05 g/L± 0.05, respectively. The results obtained in this study are unprecedented and enable professionals in the field of food and nutrition to prescribe the best usage of coconut oil in cooking. •Fresh coconut oil submitted to common heat shows no important alteration in fatty acids profile.•Other ingredients added to food may alter the fatty acids profile in coconut oil.•Dry heat preserves octanoic, decanoic and dodecanoic acids even when using other ingredients.•Moist heat accounts for the highest loss of fatty acids in coconut-oil food preparations.