Chemoprotective and antiobesity effects of tocols from seed oil of Maqui-berry: Their antioxidative and digestive enzyme inhibition potential

Maqui-berry (Aristotelia chilensis) is the emerging Chilean superfruit with high nutraceutical value. Until now, the research on this commodity was focused on the formulations enriched with polyphenols from the pulp. Herein, contents of tocols were compared in the seed oil of Maqui-berry obtained through three different extraction methods followed by determining their antioxidative and enzyme inhibitions in-vitro. Firstly, oilseed was extracted with n-hexane (Soxhlet method), chloroform/methanol/water (Bligh and Dyer method) and pressing (industrial). These samples were used to access their effects against DPPH, HORAC, ORAC, FRAP, Lipid-peroxidation (TEARS), a-amylase, a-glucosidase, and pancreatic lipase. All the isomers of tocopherol and tocotrienol were identified, and beta-sitosterol was the only sterol found in higher amounts than other vegetable oils. The Bligh and Dyer method could lead to the highest antioxidative capacity compared to Soxhlet and press methods likely because the latter have a higher amount of tocopherols. Further, seed oil from Maqui berry and their tocols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta-tocopherols, tocotrienols, and beta-sitosterol) warrant clinical investigation for their antioxidative and antiobesity potential. Taken together, these findings provide relevant and suitable conditions for the industrial processing of Maqui-berry.