Nutritional Composition and Volatile Compounds of Black Cumin (<i>Nigella sativa</i> L.) Seed, Fatty Acid Composition and Tocopherols, Polyphenols, and Antioxidant Activity of Its Essential Oil
Zainab Albakry,
Emad Karrar,
Isam A. Mohamed Ahmed,
Emel Oz,
Charalampos Proestos,
Aly Farag El Sheikha,
Fatih Oz,
Gangcheng Wu,
Xingguo Wang
Affiliations
Zainab Albakry
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center for Functional Food, International Joint Research Laboratory for Lipid Nutrition and Safety, Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Emad Karrar
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center for Functional Food, International Joint Research Laboratory for Lipid Nutrition and Safety, Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Isam A. Mohamed Ahmed
Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Emel Oz
Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25240, Turkey
Charalampos Proestos
Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
Aly Farag El Sheikha
School of Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, 25 University Private Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
Fatih Oz
Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25240, Turkey
Gangcheng Wu
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center for Functional Food, International Joint Research Laboratory for Lipid Nutrition and Safety, Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Xingguo Wang
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center for Functional Food, International Joint Research Laboratory for Lipid Nutrition and Safety, Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
This study was to assess the nutritional quality and bioactive properties of black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) seeds and oil commonly found in the Chinese market. The results showed that black cumin seeds contain 5.02, 21.07, 39.02, 3.02, 6.01, and 25.86% moisture, crude proteins, crude fat, ash, fiber, and carbohydrates, respectively. It also contains substantial amounts of minerals, namely calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, iron, zinc, and copper. Glutamic acid (4.10 g/100 g protein) is the major amino acid of black cumin seeds. The major volatile components in black cumin seeds were thymoquinone (21.01%), o-cymene (18.23%), and β-thujene (17.22%). Cumin seed oil extracted by the soxhlet method contains high quantities of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA; 85.16%) and low amounts of saturated fatty acids (SFA; 15.02%). The major fatty acid of black cumin seed oil was linoleic acid (57.71%), followed by oleic acid (24.46%). The most prominent TAG of black cumin seed oils was oleoyl-dilinoleoyl-glycerol (OLL; 38.87%). In addition, the levels of α-tocopherol, β-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol, and total polyphenols in the black cumin seed oil were 25.59, 14.21, and 242.83 mg/100 g, and 315.68 mg GAE/kg, respectively, and possessed high antioxidant activity (DPPH IC50%, of 4.02 mg/mL). These findings demonstrate that black cumin seeds are nutritionally rich with high potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.
