Abstract
Milk thistle oils are available on the market and appeal to consumers because of their healthy properties as cold-pressed oils. The raw material for producing such oils is purchased from a range of domestic and foreign sources. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of drying temperature on the peroxide value, acid value, fatty acid composition, tocopherol and phytosterol contents in the lipid fraction extracted from milk thistle seeds. The seeds were purchased in three different farms and were dried in a thin layer at 40 °C, 60 °C, 80 °C, 100 °C, 120 °C, and 140 °C. The level of phytosterols and the fatty acid composition were determined using GC-FID, while tocopherols concentrations were determined using HPLC. The study showed that the quality of seeds used in the production of oil varies. The drying of milk thistle seeds using air cooler than 80 °C caused no statistically significant changes in AV, p-AnV, phytosterol levels, tocopherols, or SFA levels. Drying temperatures in the 100–140 °C range caused significant losses of phytosterols and tocopherols and also resulted in changes in fatty acid composition. When seeds were dried at 140 °C, phytosterol levels dropped by 19–23%, tocopherols by 10–23%, MUFA by 30%, and PUFA by 11%.
Highlights
In some countries of North and Central America, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East, milk thistle is considered a problematic invasive weed (Holm et al 1997; Montemurro et al 2007)
The aim of this work was to determine the effect of drying temperature on the peroxide value, acid value, fatty acid composition, tocopherol and phytosterol contents in the lipid fraction extracted from milk thistle seeds
When seeds were dried at 140 °C, phytosterol levels dropped by 19–23%, tocopherols by 10–23%, MUFA by 30%, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) by 11%
Summary
In some countries of North and Central America, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East, milk thistle is considered a problematic invasive weed (Holm et al 1997; Montemurro et al 2007). In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in Austria, Germany, Egypt, China, and Argentina, milk thistle is cultivated commercially as a medicinal plant. In the Czech Republic in 2010–2013, milk thistle was grown on 4500–5000 ha Milk thistle is a herbaceous plant used mainly in the pharmaceutical industry. The strong upward trend in the use of milk thistle is due to the fact that it is a valuable raw material in the production of cooking oil and biofuels, while its by-products, such as oil cake and flours, are used as sources of silymarin and proteins
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