Abstract
Fatty acids are very important for not only the components of energy resources but also the characteristic and functional properties for metabolic and physiological precursors to human body. Recent years, therefore, much attention is needed to the conventional analytical techniques for accuracy and easy way of fatty acid composition by analytical instruments.
In this review, the practical methods on the fatty acids analyeses are reviewed for food materials mainly by gas liquid chromatography (GLC) using the chemical conversion of fatty acids in lipid to the derivatives of esters. Furthermore, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for fatty acid analysis is also reviewed and nuclear magnetic resonace (NMR) is summarized as the modern techique for nondestructive analysis especially on the n-3 family fatty acids and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) quantification.
