Flaxseeds: Nutritional Potential and Bioactive Compounds

Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the nutritional and bioactive composition of commercially available flaxseeds with the aim to develop new alternatives for their use as functional and nutraceutical food ingredient. The samples of flaxseed contained 20.86% protein, 31.16% fat, 29.07% crude fiber and 3.75% ash. Essential amino acids represented 34% of total protein. The amino acids profile showed that glutamic acid was the most abundant (3.87 g 100 g-1), followed by arginine (1.93 g 100 g-1) and aspartic acid (1.52 g 100 g-1). Fatty acids analysis indicated that alpha-linolenic acid represents the major fatty acid (54.51% of the total fatty acids). The ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids was 8.67 while the n-3/n-6 PUFA ratio was 3.2. Total phenolics showed average contents of 295.92 mg GAE 100 g-1, of which flavonoids accounted for 25.85 mg QE 100 g-1. The results confirmed that, in addition to being one of the richest sources of alpha-linolenic acid, flaxseed is an essential source of high quality protein, soluble fiber and potent natural antioxidants.