Characterization of cold-pressed onion, parsley, cardamom, mullein, roasted pumpkin, and milk thistle seed oils

Cold-pressed onion, parsley, cardamom, mullein, roasted pumpkin, and milk thistle seed oils were characterized for their fatty acid (FA) composition, tocopherol content, carotenoid profile, total phenolic content (TPC), oxidative stability index (OSI), color, physical properties, and radical-scavenging capacities against peroxyl (oxygen radical-scavenging capacity) and stable DPPH (diphenylpicrylhydrazyl) radicals. Parsley seed oil had the highest oleic acid content, 81 g/100 g total FA, and the lowest saturated fat among the tested oils. Roasted pumpkin seed oil contained the highest level of total carotenoids, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, cryptoxanthin, and lutein at 71 mu mol/kg and 28.5, 6.0, 4.9, and 0.3 mg/kg oil, respectively. Onion seed oil exhibited the highest levels of alpha- and total tocopherols under the experimental conditions. One of the parsley seed oils exhibited the strongest DPPH center dot scavenging capacity and the highest oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAQ value of 1098 mu mol Trolox equiv/g oil. However, ORAC values of the tested seed oils were not necessarily correlated to their DPPH center dot scavenging capacities under the experimental conditions. The highest TPC of 3.4 mg gallic acid equiv/g oil was detected in one of the onion seed oils. The OSI values were 13.3, 16.9-31.4, 47.8, and 61.7 h for the milk thistle, onion, mullein, and roasted pumpkin seed oils, respectively. These data suggest that these seed oils may serve as dietary sources of special FA, tocopherols, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and natural antioxidants.