Edible vegetable
oils can provide most of the fatty acids, vitamin
E, and certain phytochemicals necessary in the daily human diet to
facilitate the required physiological activities. However, there are
many types of edible vegetable oils on the market, and evaluating
their nutritional quality is a matter of significant interest to consumers
and producers. Most of the existing research studies that comparatively
analyze and qualitatively describe the type, content, and proportion
of nutrients in edible vegetable oil lack a comprehensive method for
evaluating the nutritional quality of edible vegetable oil. Based
on the physical and chemical analysis of fatty acids, vitamins, and
phytochemicals in edible vegetable oil, this study aims to establish
a model for a comprehensive evaluation of the nutritional quality
of edible vegetable oils. The characteristic nutrients in edible vegetable
oil were screened as the evaluation index, while the 2013 China Dietary
Reference Intake and French Population Reference Intakes For Fatty
Acids was considered the evaluation threshold. When each evaluation
index in the edible vegetable oil reached the range stipulated by
the reference intake of dietary nutrients, the index will get 1 point.
The total score of each index was accumulated to evaluate the nutritional
quality of the edible vegetable oils comprehensively. In this study,
13 edible vegetable oils, including low erucic acid rapeseed oil (in
America, people usually call it canola oil), soybean oil, peanut oil,
sunflower seed oil, flaxseed oil, edible blend oil, olive oil, palm
oil, corn oil, camellia oil, peony seed oil, sacha inchi oil, and
sesame oil, were selected as the evaluation objects because they are
very common in China. Seven evaluation indexes were found for total
saturated fatty acids (SFAs), atherogenic fatty acids (SFAs with 12,
14, and 16 carbon chains), monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated
fatty acids like linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid, vitamin
E, and phytosterol. When the evaluation index met the evaluation threshold,
it was scored 1 point. Scores ranged from 2 to 6. The highest scores
were obtained from peony seed oil, flaxseed oil, low erucic acid rapeseed
oil, and edible blend oil all of which were 6 points. The lowest score
belonged to palm oil at 2 points. The higher the score, the higher
the degree of satisfaction between the various nutrients in the edible
vegetable oil and the dietary reference intake of this model is. This
paper establishes a new method for the nutritional evaluation of edible
vegetable oils, which is convenient for comparing the overall nutritional
quality of different kinds of edible vegetable oils while providing
a new technique for the extensive evaluation of edible vegetable oil.