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Selected Uncommon Legumes as a Source of Essential Fatty Acids, Tocopherols, Tocotrienols, Sterols, Carotenoids, and Squalene

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Abstract

The seeds of nine species belonging to the Fabaceae family (Cassia alata, Cassia uniflora, Cassia obtusifolia, Cassia tora, Crotalaria albida, Crotalaria juncea, Crotalaria pallida, Indigofera tinctoria, and Tephrosia purpurea) were studied. The oil yield ranged from 2.0 to 9.6% dw, in the seeds of I. tinctoria and T. purpurea, respectively. The unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) were the predominant group of fatty acids (41–74%) in the investigated samples. The sum of tocopherol homologues α and γ constituted 90–100% of total tocochromanols identified in each species. The β-sitosterol, campesterol, and Δ5-stigmasterol were the main sterols in most of the samples, however, in some of the seeds considerable levels of Δ5-avenasterol, Δ5,24-stigmastadienol, 24-ethylcholest-7-en-3beta-ol, and cycloartenol were also determined. Although the studied seeds were marked by relatively low yield of oil, the predomination of UFA, as well as relevant quantities of tocochromanols, carotenoids, sterols, and squalene (144.3–444.8, 4.1–43.1, 603.2–2590.2, and 0–88.1 mg/100 g oil, respectively), thus, the studied seeds can be considered as an alternative source of valuable ingredients for human nutrition.

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Abbreviations

T:

tocopherol

T3:

tocotrienol

SFA:

saturated fatty acids

UFA:

unsaturated fatty acids

MUFA:

monounsaturated fatty acids

PUFA:

polyunsaturated fatty acids

HPLC:

high-performance liquid chromatography

RP:

reversed phase

PFP:

pentafluorophenyl

GC:

gas chromatography

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the UGG, New Delhi grant Nr. F.18-1/2011(BSR) 2016.

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Correspondence to Paweł Górnaś.

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Górnaś, P., Czubinski, J., Rudzińska, M. et al. Selected Uncommon Legumes as a Source of Essential Fatty Acids, Tocopherols, Tocotrienols, Sterols, Carotenoids, and Squalene. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 74, 91–98 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-018-0706-x

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