Abstract
Phytosterols are nutritionally vital phytoconstituent owing to their cholesterol (low-density plasma lipoprotein-cholesterol, LDL-C)-lowering, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Among the widely used spices and herbs, the seeds spices of the Apiaceae family represented the healthiest fatty acid profile. Thus, to explore the other health-beneficial lipids, the present study was aimed to analyze the phytosterol profile of eight seed spices of the Apiaceae family, utilizing gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS). The sterols contents calculated on an oil (mg/100 g of oil) and spice weight (mg/100 g spices; dry weight) basis varied significantly among the seed spices (p < 0.05; Turkey HSD). The β-sitosterol and stigmasterol were the most dominating sterols among the studied spices, together accounted for 40.3 (Ajwain) to 69.8% (celery) of total sterols in the seed oil. Among the studied spices, the oil extracted from caraway seeds showed the highest total sterols (602.2 mg/100 g of oil). Interestingly, based on spice weight, fennel seeds also showed the similar highest number of total sterols (134.2 mg/100 g in fennel and 133.3 mg/100 g in caraway), owing to the high contents of oil (25.9%) in fennel seeds. Overall, celery, caraway, fennel, and anise seeds oil are rich sources of health-beneficial phytosterols.
Highlights
Spices are a vital part of human nutrition worldwide [1]
Many studies reported the sterol composition of Apiaceae family seeds utilizing a gas chromatography (GC)-flame ionization detection (FID) based analysis method [16,19,20,21], which may yield a misidentification of compounds eluting at a similar retention time
Studied spices showed a significant variation for the oil composition, recorded between 17.5 to 31.1%
Summary
Spices are a vital part of human nutrition worldwide [1]. Spices are food adjuncts traditionally used as coloring, seasoning, flavoring, and food preservative agents [1,2]. Many studies reported the sterol composition of Apiaceae family seeds utilizing a gas chromatography (GC)-flame ionization detection (FID) based analysis method [16,19,20,21], which may yield a misidentification of compounds eluting at a similar retention time. The present study was aimed to analyze the phytosterol profile of eight most widely used seed spices of the Apiaceae family, namely dill (Anethum graveolens L.), celery (Apium graveolens L.), caraway (Carum carvi L.), coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), anise (Pimpinella anisum L.), and Ajwain (carom; Trachyspermum ammi L.) utilizing a recently validated GC-MS method [22]
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