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Nutritional profile and nutraceutical components of olive (Olea europaea L.) seeds

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Abstract

Olive seeds, a potential food by-product from both table olive and olive oil industries, were examined for their overall proximate composition, oil, protein, mineral and phenolic components. Proximate analysis indicates that olive seeds are an unusually rich source of total dietary fibre (≅ 47% dry weight basis, DWB), as well as lipids (≅ 30%) and proteins (≅ 17%). Oil composition shows high levels of oleic (≅ 62% of total fatty acids) and linoleic (≅ 24%) acids, moderate concentrations of tocopherols (≅ 460 mg/kg) and squalene (≅ 194 mg/kg), and relatively high amounts of several sterols and non-steroidal triterpenoids. Olive seed proteins are a rich source of essential amino acids (about 46% of the total AA content). Olive seeds also contain significant amounts of some essential macro-elements (K, Ca, Mg, Na, P) and micro-elements (Zn, Mn, Cu). Phenolic compounds are present at relatively high quantities (≅ 2.8 mg/g seed, DWB); the most abundant belong to the group of secoiridoid compounds (elenolic acid derivatives) including oleuropein and structurally related substances (demethyloleuropein and ligstroside), and nüzhenide derivatives. Based on the general nutritional profile and nutraceutical components, olive seeds have value-added potential as a source of edible oil, proteins or meal serving as feed supplements.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financed with funds from FEDER (Projects RTC-2016-4824-2, RTC-2017-6654-2, BFU2016-77243-P), and Grants from Programa de Cooperación Bilateral CONICET-CSIC and SeCyT-UNC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina

    Damián Maestri, Damián Barrionuevo & Romina Bodoira

  2. Departamento de Bioquímica, Biología Celular y Molecular de Plantas, Estación Experimental del Zaidín (CSIC), Granada, Spain

    Adoración Zafra, José Jiménez-López & Juan de Dios Alché

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  1. Damián Maestri
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  2. Damián Barrionuevo
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  5. José Jiménez-López
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  6. Juan de Dios Alché
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Correspondence to Damián Maestri.

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Maestri, D., Barrionuevo, D., Bodoira, R. et al. Nutritional profile and nutraceutical components of olive (Olea europaea L.) seeds. J Food Sci Technol 56, 4359–4370 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-019-03904-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-019-03904-5

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