Evaluation of the Antioxidant Properties of Micronutrients in Different Vegetable Oils

Abstract Micronutrients (tocols, sterols, and total phenolic) and antioxidant activities of 15 varieties of common vegetable oil samples obtained from different countries are investigated. All methanol extracts are assayed for total antioxidant ability and cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) using oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) method and CAA assay. CAA has been widely used in the evaluation of food antioxidants recently. It quantifies antioxidant capacity utilizing a HepG2 cell model, which is more biologically representative. Linseed and sesame oils show much higher CAA values than the others tested; however, levels of walnut, sunflower, and coconut oils are extremely low, which are hard to be quantified. A significant correlation between the ORAC and CAA values and total phenolic content ( p < 0.05) is observed. High‐phenolic olive oil has the highest level of phenolics and the highest ORAC, while linseed oil has the highest CAA value. Based on this, choosing proper edible oil consumption may reduce oxidative damage of human body and promote the precision processing of edible oil such as retaining beneficial ingredients moderately. Practical Application : This study demonstrates the evaluation of the universality of vegetable oils by the cellular antioxidant model and provides a data reference for the selection of edible oils with excellent antioxidant properties.