Fatty Acid Composition of Irvingia gabonensis and Treculia africana Seed Lipids and Phospholipids

Abstract

Lipid compositions of two non‐conventional oilseeds (Irvingia gabonensis and Treculia africana) were studied. Total lipids were extracted by the Folch method and phospholipids were isolated by solid phase extraction. Fatty acid compositions of total lipids and phospholipids were determined by gas chromatography. Phospholipid classes and tocopherols were quantified by HPLC. The major fatty acids in I. gabonensis seed total lipids were myristic (41.4–48.9 %) and lauric (39.8–46.8 %) while those in T. africana seed were linoleic (29.1–31.4 %) and oleic (22.9–25.9 %). The principal fatty acid at the sn‐2 position of I. gabonensis seed triacylglycerols was myristic (49.5 %) while that of T. africana was linoleic (50.6 %). Phospholipid content of crude T. africana seed oil was 3.3 % and that of I. gabonensis was 0.1–0.3 %. The composition and distribution of saturated fatty acids in I. gabonensis seed lipids suggest that it may contribute to cardiovascular disease risk factors among the Igbo people in Nigeria that use the seed as food ingredient.

Extraction and Physicochemical Composition of Irvingiagabonensis Almond Oil: A Potential Healthy Source of Lauric-Myristic Oil

“…The oil content in I. gabonensis almonds determined by the Soxhlet method was 63.8%. These results corroborate the values from the literature with an oil content of up to 75.5% [3,10,19,[22][23][24]. The fat content in the almonds of these varieties is higher than that of almonds from the fruits of tropical oilseeds such as cocoa (50.0-52.0%) and moabi, Baillonella toxisperma, (50.5%) [13].…”

“…Figure 2c,d show the enlargement of these cells. According to the literature, the almond is composed of more than 60% oil [3,10,19,[22][23][24]. This suggests that the fragments observed are oleosomes.…”

Lipophilic compounds and thermal behaviour of African mango (Irvingia gabonensis (Aubry‐Lecomte ex. O'Rorke) Baill.) kernel fat

“…Ifeduba et al . () have previously reported similar concentrations of tocopherols in I. gabonensis seed oil (4.6 mg/100 g). In their study, β‐tocopherol prevailed, followed by α‐ and γ‐tocopherol.…”

“…C14:0 (51.3 ± 0.3%) and C12:0 (37.6 ± 0.1%) were the most abundant fatty acids, together representing 88.9 ± 0.3% of total fatty acids. Similar proportions of the aforementioned fatty acids have been previously described in I. gabonensis kernel fats (Matos et al ., ; Silou et al ., ; Ifeduba et al ., ; Yamoneka et al ., ). Less abundant fatty acids were C16:0 (5.4 ± 0.1%), C18:1n9 (2.3 ± 0.1%), C10:0 (1.3 ± 0.1%), and C18:0 (1.0 ± 0.1%) as well as further minor constituents (each <1%).…”

“…Concomitantly, an increase in HDL cholesterol was observed in obese participants following the consumption of encapsulated I. gabonensis seed extract over a period of 1 month. Although the health-promoting effects of I. gabonensis extracts have been intensely studied, previous reports on the analytical characterisation of lipids only dealt with major fatty acids, triacylglycerols (TAGs), phytosterols, and tocochromanols, respectively (Meara & Patel, 1950;Silou et al, 2011;Ifeduba et al, 2013;Yamoneka et al, 2015). Detailed studies into the lipid composition, including minor constituents, are lacking to date.…”