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Almost all foods contain different fatty acids, including saturated, mono-unsaturated, polyunsaturated, and essential fatty acids. The amount of fatty acids varies, making it poss ible to change
the intake of fatty acids by changing foods. Sweet potato (lpomoea batatas L.) root is a tuber crop and
a low cost energy source, containing 4-5% of crude fat on dry weight basis. This study reports the
percentage of some selected fatty acids of boiled Jpomoea batatas and dried flour of sweet potato
cultivars consumed by Sri Lankans. The analysis of fatty acids from sweet potato tuber flour was ca med
out by extracting (n- hexane: isopropanol), hydrolyzing the lipids, methylating the fatty acids, and
subjecting them to the Gas Chromatography. Standard fatty acids were used for fatty acid
identification. GC column - Rtx-wax & Diode array detector was used for th is analysis. The most abundant fatty acid found in sweet potato was oleic acid (26-46%), with all varieties except
one having more than 35%, indicating that sweet potato flour is a good source of mono-unsaturated
fatty acids. Other major fatty acids found in sweet potato were palmitic (15-31%) and !auric (8-23%)
acids. Linoleic acid (6-12%), an essential fatty acid (omega-6) was also present in all varieties studied.
Sweet potato flour is a good source of sa turated fatty acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid .
