Studying the Evaluation Model of the Nutritional Quality of Edible Vegetable Oil Based on Dietary Nutrient Reference Intake

Abstract

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.