Quality Evaluation and Content Determination of Fatty Acids in Camellia Oil Extracted by Method of Infusion and Cold Pressing

Objective:To investigate fatty acid composition and contents in camellia oil extracted by method of infusion and cold pressing,physicochemical properties,quality evaluation by their physicochemical properties. Methods:Fatty acid composition and contents in camellia oils were determined by method of gas chromatography. Transparency,colour and luster were observed,physicochemical properties such as relative density,refractive index,iodine value,saponification value,unsaponifiables,moisture and volatile matter content,insoluble impurity,acid value,peroxide value were analyzed in accordance with methods of national standards. Results:Fourteen and twelve fatty acids were detected from camellia oil extracted by method of infusion and cold pressing,respectively. Oleic acid,palmitic acid,linoleic acid were the major fatty acids(79.37%,8.79%,7.49% in infusion;80.55%,8.81%,7.16% in cold pressing,respectively),other unsaturated fatty acids such as arachidonic acid(0.02%,0.96%,respectively)and saturated fatty acids such as stearic acid(2.11%,2.07%,respectively)were detected,physicochemical properties of the two kinds of camellia oils met the quality specification requirements,the antioxidant levels in vitro and anti-fatigue effects in vivo were identical basically. There were a significant difference between the acid value(p<0.05)and peroxide value of camellia oils extracted by method of infusion and cold pressing. Conclusion:Both the cold-pressed camellia oil and the leached camellia oil used in this experiment were in compliance with national standards. Compared with the results of fatty acid content,physicochemical indexes,in vitro antioxidant test and in vivo anti-fatigue test,the quality of cold-pressed camellia oil was slightly better than that of leaching camellia oil. By the comprehensive comparison of various parameters,camellia oil extracted by method of cold pressing was superior to method of infusion in term of the physicochemical properties.