Pomegranate is one of the exotic fruit. The exoticism of the views of the health benefits and efficacy for traditional medicine. Seeds are used to reduce fever, cough, treating poisoning.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) has high amount of seed resulting as a by product of the juice industry. This red fruit has antioxidant activity and polyphenol higher than red wine, grape juice, blueberries, apple juice and orange juice. When we often eat fruits rich in antioxidants such risk of heart disease and cancer can be suppressed.
An edible oil can be extracted from dried pomegranate seeds through conventional physical or chemical methods. The components of pomegranate seed oil (PSO) including fatty acids (FA), phospholipids, tocopherols, and triterpenoids have been characterized in the recent research (Siano et al 2016).
The bioactive effects of PSO have been correlated primarily to the high amount of punicic acid, 6 an ω -5 conjugated linolenic fatty acid with potent antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, anti-arteriosclerotic, immune-modulatory, and lipid metabolism regulation effects.
Because of the presence of double bonds, non-enzymatic oxidation mainly affects polyunsaturated fats during industrial and domestic heating of oils, producing a number of oxidation products.
The high content of punicic acid of PSO justifies the iodine value of 217− 221 g I2 /100 g oil,4 much higher than those of other edible oils such as sunflower oil (128− 150 g I2 /100 g oil) and soybean oil (124− 139 g I2 /100 g oil).
Free punicic acid completely isomerizes after exposure to air for 30 min even at mild temperature (50 ° C). In contrast, the results of our work confirm that PSO is practically unchanged and that triacylglycerol-bound punicic acid did not appreciably isomerise after exposure to air at 50 ° C for up to 120 min.
In conclusion, this data indicate a high bio-accessibility and an interesting potential uptake of punicic acid as either free FA or 2-monoacylglycerol following assumption of PSO, thus supporting the use of PSO as dietary and nutritional supplement.
[:]
[1] Siano F., F. Addeo, M. G. Volpe, M. Paolucci, G. Picariello. 2016. Oxidative Stability of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Seed Oil to Simulated Gastric Conditions and Thermal Stress. J Agric Food Chem 64: 8369−8378.