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Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus spp.) Seed Oils: Their Characterization and Stability Under Storage Conditions

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

Oil was extracted from the seeds of white-flesh and red-flesh dragon fruits (Hylocereus spp.) using a cold extraction process with petroleum ether. The seeds contained significant amounts of oil (32–34 %). The main fatty acids were linoleic acid (C18:2, 45–55 %), oleic acid (C18:1, 19–24 %), palmitic acid (C16:0, 15–18 %) and stearic acid (C18:0, 7–8 %). The seed oils are interesting from a nutritional point of view as they contain a large amount of essential fatty acids, amounting to up to 56 %. In both dragon fruit seed oils, tri-unsaturated triacylglycerol (TAG) was mainly found while their TAG composition and relative percentage however varied considerably. Therefore, they showed a different melting profile. A significant amount of total tocopherols was observed (407–657 mg/kg) in which the α-tocopherol was the most abundant (~72 % of total tocopherol content). The impact of storage conditions, cold and room temperatures, on the oxidative stability and behavior of tocopherols was monitored over a 3-month storage period. During storage, the oxidative profile changed with a favorably low oxidation rate (~1 mequiv O2/week) whilst tocopherols decreased the most at room temperature. After 12 weeks, the total tocopherol content, however, still remained high (65–84 % compared to the initial oils). Hereto, the dragon fruit seed oils can be considered as a potential source of essential fatty acids and tocopherols, with a good oxidative resistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Food Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Wijitra Liaotrakoon, Nathalie De Clercq & Koen Dewettinck

  2. Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Vera Van Hoed

Authors
  1. Wijitra Liaotrakoon
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  2. Nathalie De Clercq
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  3. Vera Van Hoed
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  4. Koen Dewettinck
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Correspondence to Wijitra Liaotrakoon.

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Liaotrakoon, W., De Clercq, N., Van Hoed, V. et al. Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus spp.) Seed Oils: Their Characterization and Stability Under Storage Conditions. J Am Oil Chem Soc 90, 207–215 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-012-2151-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-012-2151-6

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