Fatty Acid, Tocopherol and Sterol Compositions of Canadian Prairie Fruit Seed Lipids

Abstract

The seeds of four prairie fruits-chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), thorny buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea), Woods' rose (Rosa woodsii) and hawthorn (Crataegus 9 mordenensis)-from Southern Alberta were investigated. The lipid contents of the seeds were found to be 10.4, 11.5, 3.7 and 3.4%, respectively. The tested seed lipids contained mainly linoleic acid in the range from 27.9 to 65.6% and oleic acid from 19.7 to 61.9%. The thorny buffaloberry and Woods' rose seed lipids contained 29.2 and 30.8% of linolenic acid, respectively. The contents of palmitic and stearic acids ranged from 3.2 to 5.4% and 1.6 to 2.2%, respectively. The contents of total tocopherols in the chokecherry, thorny buffaloberry, Woods' rose and hawthorn seed lipids accounted for 595, 897, 2,358 and 2,837 mg/kg, respectively. The main sterols in the lipids were b-sitosterol, D 5 -avenasterol, cycloartenol, campesterol, stigmasterol and gramisterol. The results of the present study show that the lipids from the seeds of the investigated prairie fruits could be a good source of valuable essential fatty acids, tocopherols and sterols, thus suggesting their application as functional foods and nutraceuticals.

Lipid Components of North American Wild Rice (Zizania palustris)

“…Tocopherols were analyzed as previously described [12]. Briefly, 50 mg oil was weighed directly into a 1.5-mL vial and mixed with 1 mL hexane.…”

Phytochemical Content and Antioxidant Properties of Seeds of Unconventional Oil Plants

“…In recent years, much attention has been focused on exploring different plants as alternative sources of functional compounds [1]. Recent epidemiological studies have suggested that increased consumption of whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables is inversely associated with the risk of chronic diseases [2].…”

Physicochemical and Antioxidant Characteristics of Kapok (Ceiba pentandra Gaertn.) Seed Oil

“…The presence of b-sitosterol as principal component in KSO is in line to those of several common vegetable oils which also contain this component as the major phytosterol [27]. Phytosterols are one of the important non-glyceridic minor components in vegetable oils that play beneficial role in reducing absorption of cholesterol and the amount of negative lipoproteins in human blood and thus can potentially reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases [24].…”

“…The phytosterols composition of the oil was studied following the method as described in one of our recent publications [24]. The oil was saponified with methanolic KOH and the unsaponifiable materials extracted with diethyl ether.…”

“…The oil was saponified with methanolic KOH and the unsaponifiable materials extracted with diethyl ether. The sterol fractions were analyzed as silyl (Sylon BTZ) derivatives using GC-FID and further authenticated by GC-MS [24].…”