Comparative chemical composition of two Quercus species seeds growing in Tunisia

Acorns as a Source of Valuable Compounds for Food and Medical Applications: A Review of Quercus Species Diversity and Laboratory Studies

“…In contrast, the cited author found the lowest content in the case of methionine. The highest content of aspartic and glutamic acids in the acorns of the species Q. ilex and Q. coccifera was confirmed by Lassoued et al [49]. The cited authors also showed a high leucine content in acorns.…”

“…In addition to species differences, the fat content can also be affected by origin and related environmental factors, which significantly alter the fat content of the acorns of the species Q. ilex [46]. In the case of fatty acid composition, Charef et al [47] in acorns of Q. ilex and Q. suber species, Tejerina et al [48] in acorns of Q. rotundifolia species, and Lassoued et al [49] in acorns of Q. ilex and Q. coccifera species showed that the predominant fatty acid was oleic acid, the share of which was about 50-60% of total fatty acids. In contrast, a study by Özcan [50] reported that the percentage of oleic acid was similar to or lower than that of linoleic acid in the acorns of species classified into the Quercus taxonomic section, while in the acorns of species in the Cerrus section, the predominant oleic acid remained, with a maximum share of 54.3% in the acorns of species of Q. brantii.…”

Modification of Acorn Starch Structure and Properties by High Hydrostatic Pressure

“…The amylose contents of Q. pyrenaica (P0.1/t20; 53.2 ± 0.5%) and Q. robur starches (R0.1/17.4; 58.2 ± 0.1%) were similar to those reported for Q. rotundifolia (53.7–54.5%) and Q. suber (57.9–59.4%) starches, respectively [ 35 ]. However, they were higher than those reported for Q. ilex (25.8%) [ 36 ], Q. palustris (31.4%) [ 18 ], Q. serrata (27.1%) [ 37 ], Q. suber (24.4%) [ 38 ], Q. calliprinos (29.2%) [ 39 ], Q. suber (34.4%) [ 36 ], Q. acutissima (30.6%) [ 15 ], Q. ilex (31%) [ 40 ], and Q. wutaishanica (31.4%) [ 16 ], Q. ilex (39.0%) [ 41 ], Q. pubescens (19.5%) [ 36 ], Q. rotundifolia (41.7%) [ 42 ], Q. leucotrichophora (15.6%) [ 14 ], Q. brantii (~18%) [ 21 ], Q. coccifera (36%) [ 40 ], and Q. suber (48.9%) [ 42 ] starches. The mechanical forces created during pressurization may have led to the cleavage of covalent bonds along the polymeric chains.…”

Physicochemical, morphological and functional characteristics of starch isolated from Quercus ilex and Quercus coccifera

“…Oak is an abundant species in Mediterranean forests (Sheffer, 2011), and researchers from all around the world have conducted several studies to explore the potential of oak acorn and their marketability, especiallyin the food industry. Acorns are rich in starch, fat, minerals, such as Ca, P, K, and Mg, as well as unsaturated fatty acids i.e., oleic acid, (Lassoued et al, 2022), and vitamins, mainly A and E (Vinha et al, 2016;Salajpal et al, 2008). They also contain various biologically active compounds, namely tannins, phenolic acids, and flavonoids, which are essential for maintaining appropriate antioxidant levels in the human diet to keep appropriate antioxidant levels (Vinha et al, 2016).…”

“…Many researchers have investigated alkaline extraction to yield high-purity extracts (Boudries et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2000). As previously suggested (Lassoued et al, 2022) the starch was extracted from both Quercus coccifera and Quercus ilex, and the ratios of amylose/amylopectine were determined using the identical samples used in this study. As far as we know, the functional attributes as well as the physicochemical properties, namely the distribution of the particle size have not been explored for Quercus coccifera acorn starch.…”