Stability of Avocado and Pequi oil During Heating: Study Using Ultraviolet Visible Spectroscopy and Chemometrics Methods of Curve Resolution

Abstract

Avocado and pequi oils were analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy and chemometric methods of curve resolution. When vegetable oils are heated at high temperatures, oxidation products are formed, which besides being harmful to human health strongly accelerates the antioxidants degradation. In this sense, monitoring antioxidants and oxidation products can provide information about the best conditions to its consumption. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate antioxidants and oxidation products behavior in avocado and pequi oils. By applying Independent Component Analysis (ICA) in the avocado oil it was detected that antioxidant concentration decreased after 90oC. To the pequi oil, by applying Multivariate Curve Resolution Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) it was possible to detect that the transformations between antioxidant/oxidation products took place at 70oC. The results suggested that avocado oil is more resistant to high temperatures then pequi oil. Moreover, the methods used in this study suggests that chemomstric tools are feasible to accomplish spectrophotometric techniques in food quality evaluation.