Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Potential of Nigerian Red Palm Oil (Elaeis Guineensis)

Abstract

Polyphenols have been shown in both in vitro and in vivo experiments to induce responses that are consistent with the protective effects of diets rich in fruits and vegetables against degenerative conditions such as cardiovascular disorders and cancer. Red palm oil, extracted from the fruit mesocarp of Elaeis guineensis is very important in the diet of many Nigerians, and indeed many citizens of developing countries living around the tropics. It contains antioxidant components such as carotenoids (alpha, beta, and gamma carotenes) and vitamin E (tocophorols and tocotrienols), which are of known nutritional and health benefits, but the antioxidant polyphenol contents of this oil is not fully explored. To assess the total antioxidant potential due partly to the scavenging of reactive oxygen specie (ROS) and the inhibition of the enzyme, xanthine oxidase, the hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase assay system and the 2-deoxyguanosine-assay model were utilized. These revealed that the oil possesses promising antioxidant and radical scavenging activities with IC 50 values of 95 µM and 219 µM for the hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase and 2-deoxyguanosine assays, respectively. Liquid-Chromatography with Electrospray -Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LC-ESI) showed the presence of the antioxidant, 3,4 hydroxybenzyaldehyde, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid and ferulic acid in the red palm oil. Thus, in addition to antioxidant compounds like carotenoids, and vitamin E, the red palm oil also contains a rich mixture of phenolic compounds with potent antioxidant and radical scavenging capacities that might also account significantly for its widely reported capacity to modulate stress-related disorders.

Fatty acid composition, cholesterol and antioxidant status of infraspinatus muscle, liver and kidney of goats fed blend of palm oil and canola oil

“…Canola oil contains about 0.53-0.97% plant sterols and about 700-1200 ppm tocopherols (Dupont et al 1989;Lin et al 2013). Palm oil is the richest natural plant source of lipid-soluble antioxidants such as carotenoids (aand b-carotenes, lycopenes), vitamin E (a-, b-, d-tocotrienols and tocopherol) and ubiquinone (Oguntibeju et al 2009;Atawodi et al 2011). Palm oil contains 44% oleic acid, 10% linoleic acid and about 40% palmitic acid (Siew & Ng 2000).…”

Protective Effects of Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) and/or Red Palm Oil (Elaeis guineensis) Supplementation ontert-Butyl Hydroperoxide-Induced Oxidative Hepatotoxicity in Wistar Rats

“…It is unique in that it contains an equal amount of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, with about 44% palmitic acid, 5% stearic acid (both saturated), 40% oleic acid (monounsaturated), 10% linoleic acid, and 0.4%   α -linoleic acid (both polyunsaturated), with natural fat soluble tocopherol, tocotrienol, and carotenoids which may act as antioxidants [38, 39]. Apart from the fat soluble antioxidants found in palm oil, studies have shown that RPO also contains several phenolic compounds, including gallic, chlorogenic, gentisic, coumaric, and caffeic acids, as well as catechins, hesperidin, narirutin, and 4-hydroxyl benzoate, all of which have appreciable radical scavenging and antioxidant ability [40–42]. The health benefits of RPO have been highlighted in feeding experiments using different animal models.…”

Effects of red palm oil and rooibos on sperm motility parameters in streptozotocininduced diabetic rats

“…It contains lipid-soluble antioxidants such as carotenoids (α-and β-carotenes, lycopenes), vitamin E (in the form of α-, β-, δ-tocotrienols and tocopherol) and ubiquinone (Oguntibeju et al, 2009). Red palm oil is distinctive from other plant and animal oil because it contains 50% saturated fatty acids, 40% unsaturated fatty acids, and 10% polyunsaturated fatty acids (Atawodi et al, 2011). RPO has beneficial effects on arterial thrombosis and hypertension associated with oxidative stress (Edem, 2002;Narang et al, 2004) and is also protective against the consequences of ischemia /reperfusion injury (Esterhuyse et al, 2005, Bester et al, 2006.…”