Abstract:Fatty acids are the main constituents of vegetable oils. To determine the fatty acid compositions of small trade vegetable oils and some less well studied beneficial vegetable oils, and investigate their relationships with antioxidant activity and oxidative stability, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was performed to characterize the associated fatty acid profiles. The antioxidant activity of vegetable oils, based on their DPPH-scavenging capacity (expressed as IC50 values), was used to assess their impact on human health, and their oxidative stability was characterized by performing lipid oxidation analysis to determine the oxidative induction time of fats and oils. In addition, correlation analyses were performed to examine associations between the fatty acid composition of the oils and DPPH-scavenging capacity and oxidative stability. The results revealed that among the assessed oils, coffee seed oil has the highest saturated fatty acid content (355.10 mg/g), whereas Garddenia jaminoides oil has the highest unsaturated fatty acid content (844.84 mg/g). Coffee seed oil was also found have the lowest DPPH IC50 value (2.30 mg/mL) and the longest oxidation induction time (17.09 h). Correlation analysis revealed a significant linear relationship (P<0.05) between oxidative stability and unsaturated fatty acid content, with lower contents tending to be associated with better oxidative stability. The findings of this study provide reference data for the screening of functional edible vegetable oils.
