Lipids and Fatty Acid Profiling of Major Indian Garcinia Fruit: A Comparative Study and its Nutritional Impact

The effects of plant oils on health are being
intensively studied. Many fatty acids have attracted significant
scientific attention since the studies pointed them
as potential nutrients. An attempt was made to analyze the
variation in three major Indian Garcinia fruits for their
oils, lipid sub-classes, fatty acids and total amino acids.
Solvent extraction and chromatographic techniques were
used for the isolation, purification, separation and detection
of these compounds. Three major Garcinia fruits G.
gummi-gutta, G. indica and G. xanthochymus varied in
their chemical composition. Oil content was significantly
higher (p < 0.05) in G. xanthochymus seeds (16.9 %) when
compared to 11.21 % in G. gummi-gutta seeds. Fatty acids
observed were mainly capric, undecanoic, lauric, palmitic,
stearic, oleic and linolelaidic acid. Monounsaturated fatty
acids (MUFA) were predominant in both pericarp and
seeds with oleic acid being the major fraction (29.24-
58.6 %). The lipid classification of Garcinia oils showed
the varying percentage of neutral lipids, glycolipids and
phospholipids. Oleic acid (32.91–71.54 %) was found to be
the major fatty acid in neutral-, glyco- and phospho-lipids.
Alanine, leucine, proline and phenylalanine were the predominant
amino acids found in Garcinia fruits. The study
has broadened our understanding related to the different biochemical composition of Garcinia fruits, thereby providing
the groundwork that may lead to the production,
utilization and application of products from Garcinia in a
more efficient way