Comparison of fatty acids omega 3,6 and 9 in ecuadorian and canadian Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) by gas chromatography

Abstract

This study's main objective was the quantification of fatty acids: omega 3: alphalinolenic acid (ALA), omega 6: linoleic acid (LA), omega 9: oleic acid (OA) inEcuadorian and Canadian linseed (Linum usitatissimum L .) by gas chromato-graphy and comparison of these acids in the two types of flaxseed by applyingStudent's t test. To fulfill this purpose a random sampling was performed. Foreach type of linseed 12 samples were taken, of which the total fat extractedusing a Soxhlet apparatus, as a result of this analysis was obtained in Canadianflaxseed average percentage of 40 % fat and 34 % flaxseed Ecuador. The fattyacid present in the samples were esterified, diluted and analyze by gas chro-matography - FID detector equipped with an autosampler and capillar columnTG – Polar. As a result of this analysis it was determined that Canadian flaxseedhas 53 % of Omega 3 (ALA), 16 % of Omega 6 (AL) and 19 % Omega 9 (AO)and the Ecuadorian flaxseed has 53 % of Omega 3 (ALA), 17 % of Omega 6(AL) and 20 % Omega 9 (AO). After performing the t-Student test, it was finallydetermined that there are no significant differences between the values ofOmega 3 (ALA) and 9 (AO) of the two varieties of linseeds and there are signi-ficant differences between the values of omega-6 (AL).