Fatty Acid Compositions of Varying Seed Oils of Korean Origin

한국산(韓國産) 각종(各種) 종실유(種實油)의 지방산(脂肪酸)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究)

The role of fat is important from nutritional standpoint. The physiological functions of fat are energy yielding as well as the carrier of fat soluble vitamins, with special activities of essential fatty acids. It is fortunate that Korean families prefer to use vegetable oils rather than those from animal origin. But the problems are focused on better qaulity of food oils with attempt to exploit the available resources. This study was undertaken to inevestigate the fatty acid compositions of Korean origin both from conventional and unconventional resources of gas-liquid chromatography. The results obtained are as follows. 1. The total lipid contents of seeds of red pepper, Korean squash, sesame, perilla (var Japonica), and Korean pine nuts and walnuts were 24.3%, 56.6%, 56.4%, 46.9%, 69.8%, and 67.2%, respectively. 2. The saponification numbers of samples ranged from 190 to 200. It showed that the mean molecular weights of fatty acids composing the lipids were very much closed each other. 3. Iodine numbers of varing seed oils ranged from 96.5 of Korean squash seed oil to 124.6 of walnut oil. Oils obtained from squash seeds and sesame seeds showed significantly lower value, while others ranged from 122 to 125. 4. In the fatty acid compositions, squash seed oil was composed mainly of unsaturated fatty acids, 74.9% of which was oleic acid, whereas red pepper seed oil, pine nut oil, and sesame oil contained linoleic acid as a major component showing 64.4%, 56%, 48.8%, and 47.8%, respectively. In perilla seed oil, the amounts of linoleic and linolenic acids were 14.1% and 58%, respectively which meant nearly three-fourths of the total fatty acidsbeing the unsaturated essential fatty acids. This study will encourage the use of these conventional and unconventional vegetable oils which have highr ratios of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids.