Alternative sources of n-3 fatty acids from plant origin
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abstract
N-3 fatty acids are considered essential for human health, since they are associated with beneficial effects against many diseases of modern world. The most common dietary sources of n-3 fatty acids are fishes such as salmon and sardines among others, which are also incriminated with high heavy metals content. Flax or linseed is the most widely known plant source of n-3 fatty acids and is the main ingredient of food supplements. The aim of the present study was to evaluate seeds and seed oils of purslane as alternative sources of n-3 fatty acids. For this purpose, purslane seeds, oils from seeds extracted with three methods (screw press methods with or without a cooler), and seed presscakes were evaluated in terms of fatty acids composition and cytotoxicity. For comparison purposes, three commercial linseed oils, one cucurbit oil and one luffa oil were also analyzed in terms of fatty acids composition and cytotoxicity against various human tumor cell lines. The results of the study showed that linseed oils were abundant in α-linolenic acid (65.62%-71-90%), followed by linoleic and oleic acids (12.87%-17.98% and 6.43%-7.09%, respectively), while n6/n3 and PUFA/SFA ratios were lower than 4.0 and higher than 0.45, respectively. In contrast, cucurbit and luffa oils have very low amount of α-linolenic acid, since they contained mostly linoleic, oleic, palmitic and stearic acid, which resulted in very high values of n6/n3 ratios. The main detected fatty acids in purslane seed oils were α-linolenic and linoleic in amounts that depended on the extraction method. Seeds and seed presscakes also contained high amounts of α-linolenic acid and linoleic acids; however, extraction method affected fatty acids composition and values of n6/n3 and PUFA/SFA ratios. Finally, luffa oil showed the highest cytotoxicity against HeLa and NCI-H460 tumor cell lines, followed by cucurbit and one of the tested linseed oils. In conclusion, purslane seeds and seed oils could be considered as alternative n-3 fatty acids, while they have a balanced fatty acids composition and show moderate cytotoxicity against specific tumor cell lines.
