Changes in Fatty Acid, Tocopherol and Xanthophyll Contents During the Development of Tunisian-Grown Pecan Nuts

Among oil compounds, fatty acids, tocopherols and xanthophylls (lutein and zeaxanthin) are of special interest due to their nutritional properties. The identification and quantification of these compounds in pecan nuts (Carya illinoinensis) could therefore be very useful to produce functional foods...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society 2013-12, Vol.90 (12), p.1869-1876
Main Authors: Bouali, Intidhar, Trabelsi, Hajer, Abdallah, Ikram Bou, Albouchi, Ali, Martine, Lucy, Grégoire, Stéphane, Bouzaien, Ghaith, Gandour, Mhemmed, Boukhchina, Sadok, Berdeaux, Olivier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accumulation
Agriculture
Antioxidants
Biomaterials
Biotechnology
Carya illinoinensis
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Fatty acids
flowering
Food and Nutrition
Food Science
functional foods
Functional foods & nutraceuticals
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Life Sciences
lipid content
Lipids
lutein
monounsaturated fatty acids
nutrition
nutritive value
Nuts
Oils & fats
Original Paper
Pecan nut fruit
pecans
Plant growth
Polyunsaturated fatty acids
ripening
Tocopherols
Total lipids
Xanthophylls
zeaxanthin
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Summary:Among oil compounds, fatty acids, tocopherols and xanthophylls (lutein and zeaxanthin) are of special interest due to their nutritional properties. The identification and quantification of these compounds in pecan nuts (Carya illinoinensis) could therefore be very useful to produce functional foods rich in compounds of this type. This paper reports studies on their accumulation and the effect of ripening on the content of these high value-added compounds. The total lipid content increased during the ripening. Saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased significantly, whereas, monounsaturated fatty acids increased during the ripening of pecan nut fruit. Maximum levels of total tocopherol (279.53 mg/kg oil) and xanthophyll (6.18 mg/kg oil) were detected at 20th weeks after the flowering date. These amounts decreased gradually as ripening advances. The early stages of pecan ripening seem to have nutritional and pharmaceutical interests. These results may be useful for evaluating the pecan nut quality and determining the optimal period when the pecans accumulated the maximum of these nutritional and healthy compounds.
ISSN:0003-021X
1558-9331
DOI:10.1007/s11746-013-2340-y