Abstract
The comparison of the antioxidant activity of the studied seeds of fiber crop (hemp and flax) emphasized a hierarchy of antioxidant capacity. The purpose of the study was to investigate the antioxidant capacity and nutritional value of flax seeds (Linum usitatissimum L.) and hemp seeds (Cannabis sativa L.) in powder form. In this study, the FT-IR technique was utilized in order to detect molecular components in analyzed samples. Antioxidant capacity was evaluated with photochemical assay as well as humidity, protein, fiber, lipid and carbohydrate content. The FT-IR results reveal the presence of different bio-active compounds in hemp such as flavonoids, tannins, sugars, acids, proanthocyanidins, carotenoids and citric metabolites. The highest antioxidant capacity was observed in flax seeds, 18.32 ± 0.98, in comparison with hemp seeds, 4 ± 0.71 (μg/mg dry weight equivalent ascorbic acid). Regarding nutritional parameters, flax seeds showed the most increased content of protein, displaying average values of 534.08 ± 3.08, as well as 42.20 ± 0.89 of lipids and 27.30 ± 0.89 of fiber (g/100 g/sample). Hemp seeds showed the highest protein content of 33 ± 1.24 (g/100 g/sample).
Highlights
Flax oil is the richest plant source of linoleic and linolenic polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), which are essential for humans since they cannot be synthesized in the organism and must be ingested with food [1]
Characteristic of flax and onion seeds are the bands obtained from proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, and these are clearly highlighted in the spectra obtained by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) technique [59]
The data reveal that the flax samples have the highest antioxidant capacity when compared to hemp samples
Summary
Flax seed (L. usitatissimum) proved to be rich in a wide variety of vitamins and minerals (vitamin B1, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium) which are extremely beneficial for the body by decreasing the risk of the development of metabolic alterations [2]. This plant is a valuable source of protein, edible oils, α-linolenic acid, dietary fibers [3,4], lignans [5] and secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) which exhibits a high antioxidant activity [6].
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