Effect of different extraction methods on physicochemical properties, antioxidant activity, of virgin coconut oil

Abstract

Abstract Since there is a high demand for the virgin coconut oil (VCO) in Iraqi markets due to having consumers recently recognized that VCO has unique nutrition benefits, this study aims to recover the virgin coconut oil (VCO) using four extraction techniques; fermentation VCO (FVCO), dry VCO (DVCO), enzymatic VCO (EVCO), and the chilling and thawing VCO (CVCO) techniques. The fatty acid composition, physicochemical properties and the antioxidant activities of the VCOs were determined and compared to the commercial refined, bleached and deodorized coconut oil (RBD-CO). Physicochemical properties of extracted VCOs were yield, 54–72%; moisture contents, 0.12–0.16%; refractive index 1.45; viscosity, 48–51 cP; free fatty acid, 0.16–0.2 g/100 g; iodine value, 4.17–7,13 g I2/100 g oil; peroxide value 147–259 meq O2/kg oil, and saponification value 254.10–264.04 mg of KOH/g of oil. Fatty acid composition demonstrated that lauric acid had the highest content for all the VCOs with the range of 47.95–48.08%. The DPPH radical-scavenging activity (IC50) for the VCOs were 205.15–248.16 mg/mL and the total phenolic content (TPC) were37.42–68.12 mg GAE/100 mL.