Oil content, fatty acid composition and distributions of vitamin-E-active compounds of some fruit seed oils

Abstract

Oil content, fatty acid composition and the distribution of vitamin-E-active compounds of selected Turkish seeds that are typically by-products of the food processing industries (linseed, apricot, pear, fennel, peanut, apple, cotton, quince and chufa), were determined. The oil content of the samples ranged from 16.9 to 53.4 g/100 g. The dominating fatty acids were oleic acid (apricot seed oil, peanut oil, and chufa seed oil) in the range of 52.5 to 68.4 g/100 g and linoleic acid (pear seed oil, apple seed oil, cottonseed oil and quince seed oil) with 48.1 to 56.3 g/100 g, while in linseed oil mainly α-linolenic acid (53.2 g/100 g) and in fennel seed oil mainly 18:1 fatty acids (80.5 g/100 g) with petroselinic acid predominating. The total content of vitamin-E-active compounds ranged from 20.1 (fennel seed oil) to 96 mg/100 g (apple seed oil). The predominant isomers were established as α- and γ-tocopherol.