Comparative advantages of chemical compositions of specific edible vegetable oils

Abstract

As important supplementary to major edible oils, comparative chemical advantages of minor edible oils decide their development and usage. In this study, chemical composition of 13 kinds of specific edible vegetable oils were investigated. The comparative advantages of chemical compositions of these edible oils were obtained as follows: (1) camellia, tiger nut and almond oil were rich in oleic acid, the contents of which accounted for 79.43%, 69.16% and 66.26%, respectively; (2) safflower oil contained the highest content of linoleic acid (76.69%), followed by grape seed (66.85%) and walnut oil (57.30%); (3) perilla seed, siritch, peony seed and herbaceous peony seed oil were rich in α-linolenic acid (59.61%, 43.74%, 40.83% and 30.84%, respectively); (4) the total phytosterol contents of these oils ranged from 91.46 mg/100 ​g (camellia oil) to 506.46 mg/100 ​g (siritch oil); and (5) The best source of tocopherols was sacha inchi oil (122.74 mg/100 ​g), followed by perilla seed oil (55.89 mg/100 ​g), peony seed oil (53.73 mg/100 ​g) and herbaceous peony seed oil (47.17 mg/100 ​g). The comparative advantages of these specific edible oils indicated that they possess the high potential nutritional values and health care functions.