Extraction and Identification of Cactus Opuntia dillenii Seed Oil and its added Value for Human Health Benefits

Abstract

Oilseed content from O. ficus-indica (prickly pears) ranges from 5.0% to 14.4% according to the Turkish varieties Ortaoren or Eskioba Matth¨aus. The seeds of Opuntia dillenii were used as high-quality edible oil with health benefits as they contains high amounts of unsaturated fatty acids. The main fatty acids of the 17 cactus oil samples from Morocco are palmitic acid and linoleic acid. 10 Cactus Pear seedoil contains saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, with higher linoleic acid content, while myristic, palmitoleic, hexa-decadienoic, and margaric are present in minimal amounts. Opuntia dillenii seed-oil also includes phenolic acids, flavonoids, and tannins that are considered as antioxidants for the pharmaceutical industry. 11 The fatty acid composition of this oil is an essential indicator for its added nutritional value. 12 Supplementation of bakery products like cake, that present a rich source of energy and protein, with butter of Cactus seed-oil will further help in improving its nutritional value and chemical qualities. Development of value added products from diverse raw ingredients is receiving the prime focus of the food processing industry and by researchers. 13,14

Chemical Composition and Physicochemical Analysis of Opuntia dillenii Extracts Grown in Morocco

“…e Essaouira fruit contained the highest content of seeds, skin, and juice. In the literature, Ali Alsaad reported lower fruit seed content, 9.5%, in Iraq [22]. Journal of Chemistry ese findings demonstrated clearly that the fresh O. dillenii fruits contain more than 75% of water, which was in good agreement with previous data reported in the literature [29,30].…”

“…ese outcomes suggested that our oils possess a high shelf life. However, these values are higher than those obtained by El Mannoubi et al [33] for O. ficus-indica seed oil and by Alsaad et al [22] for O. dillenii.…”

“…However, in the literature, Liu et al [39] obtained a lower yield of 6.65% by using a supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of seed oil. Recently, Alsaad et al [22] reported relatively the same yield of 6.5% by hydrodistillation extraction. Labuschagne and Hugo [40] reported that the oil content in cactus Opuntia dillenii seeds from South Africa was 5.69%, while Chang [21] reported that the oil content in cactus pear seeds from China was 6.01%.…”

“…e O. dillenii oil is well-known for its richness in essential fatty acids and vitamin E [6] which have efficiency potential on the skin and can be used as antiaging and antiwrinkle agents. e oil of O. dillenii could also be a source of linoleic acid (omega-6) [22], which is involved in the regulation of cardiovascular disorders. is oil has also shown a hepatoprotective and antidiabetic effect [23,24].…”

Development of a Millet Starch Edible Film Containing Clove Essential Oil

“…Gas chromatography (GC) analysis is used to analyze biological material containing volatile constituents [16]. Mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical technique for the identification and quantification of known and unknown compounds in order to reveal the structure and chemical properties of molecules.…”