Posted by Rotunda Scientific on Dec 18, 2025
Fatty acids are central to food quality, nutrition, and consumer health. The balance of saturated (SFA), monounsaturated (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in foods defines not only the nutritional value of edible oils but also their oxidative stability, flavor, and compliance with regulatory labeling requirements. Traditional approaches, such as gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID), have long been the gold standard. However, GC-FID is time-intensive, requires derivatization, and demands costly laboratory infrastructure. These constraints limit its feasibility for routine quality assurance at production sites and highlight the need for alternative fatty acid profiling techniques.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for lipidomics. High-field NMR has shown remarkable accuracy in fatty acid quantification but comes with steep costs and complex operational requirements. The Fourier 80 benchtop NMR system bridges this gap, offering a cost-effective, accessible, and user-friendly solution that enables food scientists and technologists to bring high-quality lipid analysis directly into their laboratories.
Benchtop NMR (80 MHz) can directly quantify SFA, MUFA, and PUFA in edible oils without relying on complex chemometric models. Instead, it leverages integration of characteristic NMR signals linked to fatty acid structures:
Allylic protons (1.8–2.1 ppm) for total unsaturated fatty acids,
Bis-allylic protons (2.6–2.8 ppm) unique to PUFA,
Methylene protons adjacent to carbonyl groups (2.1–2.4 ppm) as an internal reference for total fatty acids.
The relative integration of each of these signals can then be used to calculate SFA, MUFA and PUFA content in the oil.
Figure 1. Example fatty acid profiling results for avocado oil. NMR signals corresponding to monounsaturated, total, and polyunsaturated fatty acids are shown.
In a validation study by Mavlanov et al., mixtures of authentic triglyceride standards (glyceryl tridecanoate, trioleate, and trilinoleate) and spiked sunflower oils were analyzed using both 500 MHz high-field and 80 MHz benchtop NMR. The results were striking:
Accuracy: Both systems delivered highly comparable quantification, with R² values above 0.99 for most fatty acid classes.
Precision: Coefficients of variation (CV) were <5% for benchtop NMR, well within acceptable limits for routine food quality testing.
Sensitivity: Detection limits on the benchtop system (1–2% for SFA/MUFA and <0.5% for PUFA) were sufficient for regulatory and nutritional monitoring.
These findings confirm that the benchtop NMR is not just a research tool but a practical solution for industrial laboratories.
For professionals tasked with ensuring nutritional accuracy and product safety, the Fourier 80 offers:
Rapid throughput: Minimal sample preparation and straightforward workflows.
Regulatory confidence: Reliable quantification of SFA, MUFA, and PUFA supports nutritional labeling.
Operational efficiency: Lower running costs and simplified infrastructure compared to GC-FID or high-field NMR.
Transferability: Validated protocols ensure reproducibility across laboratories and product lines.
As consumer demand for transparency in food composition grows, tools like the Fourier 80 provide an unprecedented opportunity to embed real-time fatty acid profiling into production and quality control environments. This validated, benchtop NMR workflow makes advanced lipid analysis practical for food scientists, technologists, and quality managers worldwide.
Reference:Mavlanov, U., Atajanov, S., Nuriddinov, S., Shukurov, S. S., Bozorov, S., Czaja, T. P., & Khakimov, B. (2025). Validation of benchtop NMR-based quantification of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids in edible oils. ChemRxiv. https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-dmfc8
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