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Dragon Fruit ( Hylocereus spp.) Seed Oils: Their Characterization and Stability Under Storage Conditions
Author(s) -
Liaotrakoon Wijitra,
De Clercq Nathalie,
Van Hoed Vera,
Dewettinck Koen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/s11746-012-2151-6
Subject(s) - tocopherol , chemistry , food science , flesh , palmitic acid , petroleum ether , linoleic acid , fatty acid , stearic acid , composition (language) , botany , extraction (chemistry) , antioxidant , biology , vitamin e , chromatography , biochemistry , organic chemistry , linguistics , philosophy
Oil was extracted from the seeds of white‐flesh and red‐flesh dragon fruits ( Hylocereus spp.) using a cold extraction process with petroleum ether. The seeds contained significant amounts of oil (32–34 %). The main fatty acids were linoleic acid (C18:2, 45–55 %), oleic acid (C18:1, 19–24 %), palmitic acid (C16:0, 15–18 %) and stearic acid (C18:0, 7–8 %). The seed oils are interesting from a nutritional point of view as they contain a large amount of essential fatty acids, amounting to up to 56 %. In both dragon fruit seed oils, tri‐unsaturated triacylglycerol (TAG) was mainly found while their TAG composition and relative percentage however varied considerably. Therefore, they showed a different melting profile. A significant amount of total tocopherols was observed (407–657 mg/kg) in which the α‐tocopherol was the most abundant (~72 % of total tocopherol content). The impact of storage conditions, cold and room temperatures, on the oxidative stability and behavior of tocopherols was monitored over a 3‐month storage period. During storage, the oxidative profile changed with a favorably low oxidation rate (~1 mequiv O 2 /week) whilst tocopherols decreased the most at room temperature. After 12 weeks, the total tocopherol content, however, still remained high (65–84 % compared to the initial oils). Hereto, the dragon fruit seed oils can be considered as a potential source of essential fatty acids and tocopherols, with a good oxidative resistance.