Lipid profile of prickly pear pulp fractions

Author: Mohamed Fawzy Ramadan ^* and Jörg-Thomas Mörsel

Received 11 September 2002, accepted 4 January 2003.

Abstract

Pulp fractions, seeds and strained pulp, of prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) were compared in the terms of fatty acids, lipid classes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins and β-carotene. Neutral lipids accounted for 87.0% in seed oil, while polar lipids accounted for 52.9% in pulp oil. In both oils linoleic acid was the main fatty acid followed by palmitic acid. γ and α-Linolenic acids, occurred in higher amounts in pulp oil, while α-linolenic acids was only detected at low levels in the seed oil. The sterol marker, β-sitosterol, was 72.0% and 49.0% of the total sterol content in seed oil and pulp oil, respectively. Vitamin E level was high in the pulp oil (0.52%) but only 0.04% in the seed oil. γ- and δ-Tocopherols were the predominant components in seed and pulp oils, respectively β-Carotene was also measured in high level in pulp oil, but was low in the seed oil. Oils under investigation resemble each other in the level of vitamin K₁.