Impact of processing conditions on the phytoprostanes profile of three types of nut kernels

Abstract

The goal of this work was the identification and quantification of phytoprostanes (PhytoPs) in three types of nuts: “Walnut”, “Macadamia”, and “Pecan”. This study represents a first approach to the relationship between the quantitative and qualitative PhytoP profiles in the “Macadamia” and “Pecan” nuts subjected to fried salt or fried honey processing. The kernels were found to contain 9-F_1t-PhytoP, 9-epi-9-F_1t-PhytoP, 16-B₁-PhytoP, ent-16-B₁-PhytoP, 9-L₁-PhytoP, and ent-9-L₁-PhytoP. “Macadamia” fried salt nuts were the only ones that produced 9-epi-9-D₁-PhytoP and 9-D₁-PhytoP. The total PhytoP concentration in raw nuts was in the range of 5541–7830 ng kg⁻¹ fresh weight (FW); for most of the PhytoPs, the concentrations were lowest in raw walnuts, indicating that concentration of each PhytoP was influenced by the genotype. The frying process increased the total PhytoPs concentration to the range of 8903–33,727 ng kg⁻¹ FW. Therefore, this is the first work describing PhytoPs in nuts and reinforces the capacity of these compounds to act as biomarkers to monitor the processing treatments that influence the final quality of nuts.

Keywords:

• Walnut
• α-linolenic acid
• PUFA
• pecan
• fried
• macadamia

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the BORGES, S.A.U. Company (Reus, Tarragona, Spain) for supplying all the nuts, and to the Institute of Plant Biotechnology of the UPCT for the use of some equipment. JC-G was funded by an FPI grant. This work has been partially funded by the “Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia” Grupo de Excelencia 19900/GERM/15 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CEBAS-CSIC).

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

JC-G was funded by an FPI grant. This work has been partially funded by the “Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia” Grupo de Excelencia 19900/GERM/15 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CEBAS-CSIC).