Lipid components of flax, perilla, and chia seeds

Abstract Composition of fatty acids, tocopherols, sterols, and TAGs in the lipids of flax, perilla, and chia seeds were investigated where lipid content was at 45, 40, and 35%, respectively. α‐Linolenic acid (ALA) dominated among fatty acids in all oils and accounted for 58.2, 60.9, and 59.8% in flax, perilla, and chia, correspondingly in these three oils trilinolenin was the main TAG found at 19.7, 22.6, and 21.3%. Triunsaturated TAGs accounted for 77.9, 77.5, and 74.5% of the total amounts in flax, perilla, and chia oils. Contents of tocopherol were at 747 in flax, 734 in perilla, and 446 mg/kg in chia seed lipids. γ‐Tocopherol was the dominating isomer contributing 72.7% in flax, 94.3% in perilla, and 94.4% in chia to the total amount of tocopherols. Flaxseed lipids contained 25.6% of plastochromanol‐8, derivative of γ‐tocotrienol with longer side chain; perilla and chia oils contained only 1.4% of it. Phytosterols were present at 4072, 4606, and 4132 mg/kg in those seeds, respectively. Among sterols, β‐sitosterol dominated and was found at 35.6, 73.3, and 49.8% of the total amounts of sterols in flax, perilla, and chia seed lipids. All of the investigated oilseeds have an excellent nutritional quality and can be a potential source of nutraceutical fats which can enrich diet in linolenic acid and other functional components.