according to a preferred embodiment of this aspect of our invention these compositions comprise three components a , b and c , wherein : a has a content of asymmetric isomers from monounsaturated fatty acids of at least 20 wt %, preferably at least 40 wt %, most preferably at least 50 wt % b has a solid fat content , measured on a unstabelized fat by nmr , at 20 ° c . of at least 20 , preferably at least 45 , most preferably at least 60 and c has a content of fatty acids with at least 18 c atoms and a cis 9 double bond of at least 40 wt %, while components a , b and c are present in amounts of : 10 - 85 wt % of b , preferably 20 - 75 wt %, most preferably 30 - 60 wt % and even more preferred compositions are obtained when the composition contains an additional fat component d in an amount of 5 - 60 wt %, which component d is an interesterified mixture of fats a and b in a weight ratio of 95 : 5 - 5 : 95 . this then results in fat compositions , wherein the components a , b , c and d are present in amounts of : in order to achieve the best mouth feel our fat compositions have a solid fat content unstabilised at 5 ° c . of 25 - 85 , preferably 30 - 50 and at 35 ° c . of less than 10 , preferably less than 5 . these solid fats contents are measured by nmr pulse techniques on a fat at measurement temperature . the value for the solid fat content depends on the pretreatment of the fat . here the solid fat content is measured on a fat that is not stabilised . i . e . the fat was melted and kept at 60 ° c . for 30 min , after which the fat is cooled to 0 ° c . and kept hereon for another 30 min , whereupon the fat is heated to measurement temperature and the solid fat index is measured after keeping the fat at this temperature for at least 1 hour . as a source for the psa , coriander seed oil is very useful . coriander oil can contain up to about 80 wt % of psa . other fats relatively rich in psa that can be applied as well are : parsley oil ; and a number of fungal oils . psa can also be obtained from carrots , fennel : chervil or caraway . the content of cis 6 isomers of asymmetric monounsaturated fatty acids in fats having intermediate levels thereof can be increased by performing an enzymic conversion on a fat containing at least 5 wt % of cis 6 isomers of fatty acids of monounsaturated fatty acids and containing also cis 9 double bonds using an enzyme specific for cis 9 double bonds and removing the products enriched in cis 9 double bonds . enzymes suitable for this conversion are well known , an example being geotrichum candidum . although the trans content of our fat compositions can be very low ( ie & lt ; 5 wt %) we can also make fat compositions with a very good performance if the trans content is 10 - 70 wt %. herefore we can use partially hardened fats as fat component b or d . however low trans contents are in general preferred . fat b that can be applied in making our fat compositions can be selected from the group consisting of palm oil mid , palm oil stearin , cocoa butter and fully or partially hardened vegetable oils , like fully hardened bean oil , rape seed oil or cotton seed oil . fat c is suitably selected from the group consisting of sunflower oil , high oleic sunflower oil , olive oil , bean oil , safflower oil , rape seed oil , palm oil olein , olein fractions of vegetable oils , high oleic vegetable oils ; corn oil ; cotton seed oil . part of our invention are also the food products with a fat phase containing or consisting of the fat composition according to our invention . examples of food products , wherein our novel fats can be applied are : margarines ; spreads ; ice - creams ; confectionery products ( in particular fillings ), bakery products ( cakes , puff - pastries , laminated products etc . ), cream alternatives , mayonnaises , dressings , soups and sauces . in these products the following benefits can be achieved : higher sv in cakes and laminated products : higher patty heights in puff - pastries : better aerated batters for cake : improved overrun and stand - up properties for cream alternatives , as well as shorter whip - times herefore and better melt - down and aeration preperties for confectionery fillings . it is emphasized that the anti - inflammatory effects were determined by in vitro tests wherein the production of intracellular adhesion molecules (= icam ) and prostaglandin e2 (= pge2 ) production by the human skin fibroblasts is measured after being induced by the inflammatory modulus phorbyl myristyl acetate ( pma ). effects on basal pge2 levels in keratinocytes are also measured . a reduction of the levels of icam and pge2 is indicative for the anti - inflammatory effect . primary human foreskin fibroblasts at passage 2 ( p2 ) were seeded into 96 - well plates at 10000 cells / well and maintained for 24 hours in an atmosphere of 5 % carbon dioxide in dulbeccos modified eagles medium ( dmem ) supplemented with 10 % foetal calf serum . petroselinic acid was added to fresh cell media ( dmem , supplemented with 10 % foetal calf serum ) in dimethylsulphoxide ( dmso , final concentration 1 %) in triplicate and incubated for a further 24 hours . phorbal myristate acetate ( pma ) in ethanol / cell media ( 10 nm ) was added to the media and the cells incubated for a futher 24 hours . pma represents an external stressor which induces oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in cells . the fibroblasts / media were then analysed as described below immediately or snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at − 70 ° c . for future analysis . the cells were then counted to ensure no effect on cell number . volumes of 50 μl culture medium were taken for pge2 assay after gently shaking the culture plate . pge2 levels in the medium were determined with a biotrak pge2 immunoassay kit ( amersham , uk ). the assay is based on the competition between unlabelled pge2 in the sample and a fixed quantity of horseradish peroxidase labelled pge2 for a limited amount of fixed pge2 specific antibody . concentrations of unlabelled sample pge2 are determined according to a standard curve which was obtained at the same time . media were discarded and cells washed with dulbecco pbs . to the washed cells , 150 μl 0 . 1 % triton x - 100 ( sigma ) was added for 3 minutes to extract icam from cell membrane . the extracts were transferred to eppendoff centrifuge tubes and centrifuged at 1000 g for 2 min to remove cell debris . a volume of 100 μl supernatant was used for icam assay . the soluble icam - 1 was assessed with commercially available immunoenzymometric assay kit ( r & amp ; d systems ). concentrations of icam - 1 in the samples were determined based on parallelly running standard curve . the anti - inflammatory effects of petroselinic acid can also be shown using a glutathione ( gsh ) depletion model in fibroblasts . l - buthionine sulfoximine ( bso , sigma ), a specific inhibitor of γ - glutamylcysteine synthetase , was used to deplete intracellular gsh levels . this depletion model is based on the natural degradation of gsh while synthesis is inhibited . bso is added to the fibroblast cell media after 24 hours ( 0 . 25 mm ), this is predissolved in dmso ( dmso , final concentration & lt ; 1 %). in addition , where stated , the antioxidants epigallocatechingallate ( ecgc ) and quercetin were also added to the media after 24 h . the former was dissolved directly in the media , quercetin was initially dissolved in ethanol , this was then diluted 500 fold into the media . keratinocytes were grown in 96 well plates to approximately 80 % confluency in keratinocyte growth medium ( kgm ) which was then replaced in with kgm without hydrocortisone for 24 - 48 h . the cells were then incubated in the presence or absence of petroselinic acid for 24 h . the medium was then removed and assayed for the pro - inflammatory pge 2 content by enzyme - linked immunoassay . keratinocytes were grown in 96 well plates to approximately 80 % confluency in keratinocyte growth medium ( kgm ) which was then replaced in with kgm without hydrocortisone for 24 - 48 h . the cells were then treated with a concentration of sodium do - decyl sulphate ( sds ) which will produce cell viability of approximately 50 % ( 2 μg / ml ). this is done in the presence or absence of petroselinic acid . after incubating for 24 h the medium was removed and the cell viability determined by the neutral red method . basically , the cells were incubated for 3 h in kgm containing 25 μg / ml neutral red after which the medium was removed and the cells were then extracted with 1 ml of 1 % ( v / v ) acetic acid , 50 % ( v / v ) ethanol for 30 min . the absorbance of the extract at 562 nm was determined and the viability evaluated by reference to control wells which contained neither sds or petroselinic acid . this methodology has shown that the keratinocyte toxicity of an irritant relates to the irritancy effect of the agent in vivo ( lawrence et al toxicol . in vitro 10 , 331 - 340 1996 ). procedure for measuring procollagen - i and decorin synthesis in human dermal fibroblasts primary human foreskin fibroblasts at passage 2 ( p2 ) were seeded into 12 - well plates at 10000 cells / cm 2 and maintained for 24 hours in an atmosphere of 5 % carbon dioxide and 4 % oxygen in dulbeccos modified eagles medium ( dmem ) supplemented with 10 % foetal calf serum . after this time the cells were washed with serum free dmem and then incubated in fresh serum free dmem for a further 60 hours . the fibroblast monolayers were then washed again with serum free dmem . test reagents ( petroselinic acid , egcg and gallic acid ) and vehicle controls were added to the cells in triplicate in a final volume of 0 . 4 ml / well fresh serum free dmem and incubated for a further 24 hours . this fibroblast conditioned medium was either analysed immediatedly or snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at − 70 ° c . for future analysis . the cells were then counted and data from the dot - blot analysis subsequently standardised to cell number . dot blot assay for decorin protein in dermal fibroblast conditioned medium samples of conditioned medium from dermal fibroblasts treated with vehicle ( as a control ) or test reagents were supplemented with 20 mm dithiothreitol ( 1 : 10 dilution of 200 mm stock solution ) and 0 . 1 % sodium dodecylsulphate ( 1 : 100 dilution of 10 % stock solution ), mixed well and then incubated at 75 ° c . for 2 minutes . a standard for the assay was generated by serial dilution of neat fibroblast conditioned medium from fibroblasts seeded at 10000 cells / cm 2 in a 175 cm 2 flask and maintained in serum free dmem as described above . assay samples were subsequently applied in triplicate to a prewetted sheet of immobilon - p transfer membrane using the 96 - well bio - dot apparatus from bio - rad as described in the manufacturers guidelines . approximately 200 μl of medium was applied per well . the medium was allowed to filter through the membrane under gravity ( 30 minutes ) after which the membrane was washed twice with pbs ( 200 μl ). these pbs washes were allowed to filter through the membrane under gravity ( 2 × 15 minutes ). the bio - dot apparatus was then attached to a vacuum manifold and a third and final pbs wash carried out under suction . the apparatus was disassembled , the membrane removed and quickly cut as required before being placed in blocking buffer overnight at 4 ° c . membranes prepared for decorin analysis were blocked with 3 % ( w / v ) bovine serum albumin ( bsa )/ 0 . 1 % ( v / v ) tween 20 in phosphate buffered saline ( pbs ), whilst those for procollagen - i analysis were blocked with 5 % ( w / v ) non fat dried milk powder / 0 . 05 % tween 20 in pbs . the following day , the membranes were probed with 1 : 10000 dilution of primary antibodies to human decorin ( rabbit polyclonal ; biogenesis ) for 2 hours at room temperature . the membranes were subsequently washed with tbs / 0 . 05 % tween 20 ( 3 × 5 minutes ) and then incubated with 1 : 1000 dilution of 125 i - conjugated anti - rat or anti - rabbit f ( ab ′) 2 fragments ( amersham ) as required for 1 hour at room temperature . following this the immobilon strips were again washed with tbs / tween 20 ( 3 × 5 minutes ) before being allowed to dry in air at room temperature . the dried membranes were wrapped in cellophane and exposed to a molecular dynamics storage phosphor screen for 16 - 18 hours . at the end of this time the exposed screen was scanned by a phosphorimager ( molecular dynamics phosphorimager sf ) using imagequant ™ software . dot intensity was assessed by computer - assisted image analysis using the quantification tools in imagequant ™, standardised to cell number and the effects of various test reagents on decorin and procollagen - i synthesis were determined relative to a vehicle treated control value of 100 arbitrary units . fig1 demonstrates that challenging cells with an inflammatory stimulus such as pma ( phorbol myristyl acetate ) causes an increase in the inflammatory response as measured by prostaglandin e2 ( pge2 ) production . petroselinic acid , even at the levels of 0 . 1 μm , dramatically reduces the inflammatory response as measured by pge2 production . — good anti - inflammatory activity . fig2 demonstrates that petroselinic acid also decreases the production of intracellular adhesion molecule ( icam ) in fibroblasts , which is another marker of inflammation . the reduction in icam occurs under both basal condition ( control ) and in cells stimulated with an inflammatory stimulus ( in this case pma ). the data for fig1 represents the mean ± standard deviation ( n = 3 ). the experiment being performed in triplicate to confirm the effect . the levels of pge2 were measured in untreated cells ( control ), cells treated with the inflammatory stimulus pma ( pma ) and pma treated cells pre - incubated with 0 . 1 , 1 . 0 , 10 , and 100 μm petroselinic acid . a significant decrease in pge2 response was found for petroselinic acid treated cells . the data for fig2 represents the mean ± standard deviation ( n = 3 ). the experiment being performed in triplicate to confirm the effect . the levels of icam were measured in untreated cells ( control ), petroselinic acid treated cells ( petroselinic acid 100 μm ), cells treated with the inflammatory stimulus pma ( pma ) and pma treated cells pre - incubated with 0 . 1 , 1 . 0 , 10 , and 100 μm petroselinic acid . a significant decrease in icam response was found for petroselinic acid treated cells . fig3 demonstrates the effects of bso and pma on inflammation as measured by the levels of icam . antioxidants decrease the icam response at a concentration of 10 μm quercetin and ecgc . in this case petroselinic was added to the media at the lower level of 0 . 01 μm and had no effect . yet in combination , petroselinic acid had a synergistic effect with the antioxidants tested . the data for fig3 represents the mean ± standard deviation ( n = 3 ). the experiment being performed in triplicate to confirm the effect . the levels of icam were measured in untreated cells ( control ), bso plus pma treated cells ( bso & amp ; pma ), and cells treated with the inflammatory stimulus pma and bso pre - incubated with ; a : petroselinic acid ( 0 . 1 μm ), b : egcg ( 10 μm ), c : quercetin ( 10 μm ), d : petroselinic acid plus egcg ( 0 . 1 μm ), e : petroselinic acid plus quercetin ( 0 . 1 μm + 10 μm ). a significant and synergistic decrease in icam response was found for petroselinic acid treated cells in the presence of antioxidants . the data for fig4 represents the mean ± standard deviation ( n = 3 ). the levels of icam were measured in untreated cells ( control ), pma treated cells ( pma ), and cells treated with the inflammatory stimuli pma pre - incubated ; petroselinic acid ( 1 μm ), genistein ( 1 μm ) and petroselinic acid plus genistein ( 1 μm ) each ). a significant and synergistic decrease in icam response was found . petroselinic acid was shown to significantly reduce the basal levels of secreted pge 2 in keratinocytes , indicative of reduced inflammatory potential ( fig5 ). in addition , treatment with petroselinic acid reduces the toxic effects of sds on keratinocytes indicating that it will reduce skin irritancy ( fig6 ). the data for fig5 represents the mean ± standard deviation ( n = 4 ). the levels of pge2 were measured in untreated cells ( co ), and petroselinic acid treated cells ( pet 0 . 1 μm and 1 μm ). the application of petroselinic acid reduced the basal levels of secreted pge 2 indicative of reduced inflammatory potential . statistical comparison of control ( co ) and 1 μm petroselinic acid showed p & lt ; 0 . 05 by student &# 39 ; s t - test . the keratinocyte viability ( fig6 ) was measured in response to sds ( 2 μg / ml ) in the presence of petroselinic acid ( 0 . 01 , 0 . 1 , 1 , 10 μm ) and data represented as a percentage of the control ( no petroselinic acid ). all petroselinic acid values were significantly increased compared to the control as determined by iway anova with student - neumann - kuels multiple comparison , p & lt ; 0 . 05 . 4 . anti - ageing effects — determined by measurement of decorin levels and synergy with antioxidants petroselinic acid has been demonstrated to boost decorin levels in fibroblasts , consistent with dermal repair and antiageing activity ( table 1 ). antioxidants such as ecgc , gallic acid , diadzein and genistein can also exert this effect ( table 2 ). in combination , a synergistic boost in decorin levels is observed ( table 3 ). premix temperature was set at 65 ° c . and 60 - rpm stirrer speed . all units were set to 15 ac , with shaft speeds set to 1000 rpm . throughput was 50 g / min . using the constant displacement pump . a coarse premix was prepared by slowly adding the prepared aqueous phase to the oil phase in the premix tank . a 2 kg - batch size was employed . the mix was allowed to stir for 15 minutes before pumping was commenced . after pumping was started , the line was allowed to run for 15 minutes before any collection of product . five tubs of each product were collected and placed at 5 ° c . after one day , one tub of each was transferred to each of 5 °, 10 °, 15 ° and 20 ° c . for evaluations after one week . product 3 ( 47 % coriander ) was pale yellow in colour , with the others being very white . all samples spread easily and smoothly , with no water loss evident . no difference in taste was found between samples . good breakdown in the mouth was evident for all samples . c - values are determined using a cone penetrometer ( manufactured by sur ) and a 40 ° cone ( weight 80 g ). the point of the cone is placed just in contact with the surface of the spread and the cone allowed to drop for 5 seconds . the distance travelled is thus proportional to the hardness of the product . conductivity is measured using a cell manufactured by url vlaardingen consisting of two parallel plates 1 cm apart , approximately 3 × 2 cm in size . this is connected to a philips pw 9526 digital conductivity meter . conductivity can then be directly read off ( in μssm − 1 ) after inserting the probe into the spread . collar is measured by inserting a 5 mm diameter steel rod to a depth of 10 mm into the spread . the resulting raising of spread around the rod is graded on a scale of i to vi , with i meaning no raising of product around the rod . vi indicating large amounts of spread raised and cracking of the product around the rod . two halvarines were produced , one with coriander oil and a control without . premix temperature was set at 65 ° c . and 60 - rpm stirrer speed . a - units were set to 10 ° c ., with shaft speeds set to 1000 rpm . c - units were set at 15 ° c ., also with shaft speeds of 1000 rpm . throughput was 30 g / min . using the constant displacement pump . a coarse premix was prepared by slowly adding the prepared aqueous phase to the oil phase in the premix tank . a 2 kg - batch size was employed . the mix was then allowed to stir for 15 minutes before pumping was commenced . after pumping was started , the line was allowed to run for 15 minutes before any collection of product . five tubs of each product were collected and placed at 5 ° c . after one day , one tub of each was transferred to each of 5 °, 10 °, 15 ° and 20 ° c . for evaluations after one week . the 42 % coriander sample was slightly more yellow in colour than the control , but not as marked a difference as with the margarine . all samples spread easily and smoothly , with no water loss evident . no difference in taste was found between samples . good breakdown in the mouth was evident for all samples . improved hardness was found at 5 ° c ., this is beneficial to make low fat products with reduced levels of hardstock . the fat blend for the reference nol was 30 % pof iv65 / 20 % cn / 50 % sf and the fatblend according to the invention no 2 was 30 % pof iv65 / 20 % cn / 50 % coriander . all ingredients except the water and the fat were mixed . then the cold water was added to this mixture . this mixture was heated in a water bath to a temperature of 70 ° c . then the fully liquid fat blend comprising the palm oleine ( po - f ), coconut oil ( cn ) and sunflower oil ( sf ) (= reference ) or coriander oil ( blend 2 ) was added to the mixture and was stirred in the ultra - turrax . this emulsion was cooled in a water bath of 20 ° c . the emulsion was stirred in the ultra - turrax again . the batch ice cream machine was held for 24 hours at − 28 ° c . prior to use . the emulsion was placed in the batch ice cream machine and was stirred for 15 minutes . the resulting ice cream was stored at − 18 ° c . for 3 days and was then evaluated . viscosity measurement of the ice cream emulsion prior to freezing at 20 ° c . method : haake viscometer using casson regression method . overrun directly after freezing . method : standardized amount of product is weighed before and after freezing / aeration process to determine amount of air incorporated into the product during freezing / aeration process ( overrun measured in % air on total weight ) hardness of the ice cream after storage for 3 days in the freezer method : stevens texture analyzer using 60 ° cone , speed 0 . 5 mm / sec and penetration depth 2 mm . hardness measured in grams the two ice creams were evaluated by the taste panel after 2 weeks storage at − 18 ° c . the results were as follows : in general the ice cream samples were of good quality . they were firm , had good texture and oral melt . reference for bakery application is “ biskien zacht ”. the following blends were made : the reference and the best match ( blend 3 ) were evaluated in a standard biscuit recipe . the dough was prepared in advance and kept in the refrigerator for 1 night according to the following procedure . sugar and fat were mixed to smooth mass and then sugar , lemon peel and flour were added to this mixture . finally the water was added . dough could be processed using standard equipment and the product had acceptable sensory properties . the following recipe was used for the evaluation of the fat blends in a filling application : the fillings were prepared using roller refiner and conche . the fillings were cooled to 29 ° c . before depositing in aluminium cups . hardness was measured by use of the stevens texture analyser after ( sta ) 3 days at 20 ° c ., cone 60 °, penetration 2 mm : sample 2 looked like the reference and was slightly softer . sample 1 and 2 were more chewy and more plastic . sample 3 was harder , less plastic , not chewy and melted quicker and cooler . this sample was less waxy and had slightly more viscosity of melt .
edible compositions containing petroselinic acid are used for the preparation of food compositions or food supplements that are used as anti - inflammatory compositions that inhibit the production of metabolites of arachidonic acid and / or reduces the formation of intracellular adhesion molecules or as anti - aging compositions with a positive impact on wrinkling , sagging , photodamaged skin , dry skin , flaky skin and age spots .