Turkish Journal of Biology
Abstract
Background/aim: Vegetable oils are considered a vital source of energy when glucose cannot be utilized. Therefore, research on newsources of oil that demonstrate nutritional value is necessary. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), a member of the Malvaceae family, isa remarkable botanical specimen due to its various uses; its roots, stem, leaves, fruits, and seeds are all valued for their nutritional,therapeutic, and industrial value. This study aims to demonstrate okra’s fatty acid (FA) composition, tocopherol content, and sterolcontent and evaluate the antioxidant activity of the oils extracted from okra using three solvents.Materials and methods: The initial part of this study involved oil extraction using the Soxhlet apparatus with various solvents, followedby the conversion of FAs into methyl esters for analysis via gas chromatography. The second part focused on quantifying tocopherolsand sterols using the Emmerie–Engel colorimetric and Liebermann–Burchard methods, respectively. In the final part, the antioxidantactivity of okra oils was measured using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical test.Results: According to the findings, palmitic acid (28.43%–39.83%) was the primary saturated FA, whereas linoleic acid (19.58%–44.07%)and oleic acid (21.60%–23.59%) were the primary unsaturated FAs. Additionally, the results indicate that the oil extracts from okra seedscontain a substantial amount of tocopherols and a significant quantity of sterols. The results of the DPPH assay show that, while theantioxidant capacity is lower than that of vitamin E, it exceeds that of other vegetable oils.Conclusion: Our research findings have allowed us to classify this oil as an edible vegetable oil.
Author ORCID Identifier
SAMIRA NIA: 0000-0003-3498-1604
MADJDA BENGUECHOUA: 0000-0002-9411-330X
TOUFIK HADJ MAHAMMED: 0000-0003-1484-9200
KHATIR REGGAGUI: 0009-0006-7198-6972
MOHAMED YOUSFI: 0000-0003-3947-9867
DOI
10.55730/1300-0152.2726
Keywords
Abelmoschus esculentus L, oil, fatty acids, tocopherol content, sterol content, antioxidant activity
First Page
85
Last Page
91
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
NIA, SAMIRA; BENGUECHOUA, MADJDA; HADJ MAHAMMED, TOUFIK; REGGAGUI, KHATIR; and YOUSFI, MOHAMED
(2025)
"Investigating the composition of fatty acid, tocopherol, and sterol contents andantioxidant capacity of oils from the seeds of Abelmoschus esculentus L. growing inAlgeria,"
Turkish Journal of Biology: Vol. 49:
No.
1, Article 8.
https://doi.org/10.55730/1300-0152.2726
Available at:
https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/biology/vol49/iss1/8
