Physicochemical Characterization and Bioactive Compounds of Cold Pressed Pine Nut Oil

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine some physicochemical characteristics and bioactive compounds of Turkish pine nut cold pressed oil. The moisture content, total protein amount and crude oil yield of the pine nut were 3.18%, 31.46% and 35.58% respectively. The fatty acid profile, tocopherol and sterol contents of this oil were characterized. Linoleic acid (46.39%) was found to be the predominant fatty acid followed by palmitic (6.3%), stearic (3.5%), gadoleic (0.81%), linolenic (0.58%), eicosadienoic (0.49%), oleic (37.73%), behenic (0.13%), palmitoleic (0.1%), margaric (0.08%), myristic (0.06%) and heptadecenoic acid (0.05%). Regarding tocopherol composition, α-tocopherol (174.48 µg/g), γ-tocopherol (485.92 µg/g) and α-tocotrienol (2004.65 µg/g) were major ingredients in the pine nut oil. Regarding sterol composition, pine nut oil was determined to have remarkably high content of β-sitosterol (76.15%). The other sterols present in the oil were campesterol (15.60%), sitostanol (6.46%), D-5,24-stigmastadienol (1.43%) and ergosterol (0.36%). The most abundant triacylglycerol (TAG) was LLL (trilinolein) (11.5867%) followed by OLnL (Oleolinolenolinolein) (0.7302%), PLnL (Palmitolinolenolinolein) (0.1422%) and PoLL (Palmitoleodilinolein) (0.0826%).