Caracterização físico-química e termo-oxidativa das sementes de linhaça (Linum Usitatissimum L.) e de seus óleos

Abstract

Overestimating nutritional tendency of the golden flaxseed instead of the brown one and considering that the roasting of seeds to deactivate antinutritional factors as an aggravating factor to the thermo-oxidation of fatty acid constituents, we aimed to characterize the seeds and oils of golden and brown varieties of flaxseed regarding nutrition, physical-chemical and thermo-oxidative stability. The influence of roasting on stability properties was evaluated by using chemical composition methods (humidity, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and soluble fibers), physical-chemical methods (iodine, acidity, saponification, peroxide, refractive index, percentage of free fatty acids, density and viscosity), spectroscopic methods (UV-visible and infrared), chromatographic (GC/ MS) and thermal analysis (TG and DSC). The seeds of both varieties were divided into two lots, the first was composed of raw seeds and the second was composed of roasted seeds at 160 ˚ C/ 15 minutes. The lots were equally divided and half was crushed and half was pressed to extraction of the oil. The raw flaxseeds showed similar chemical composition, however the golden seeds presented a higher content of protein, soluble sugars, lipid and polyunsaturated fatty acid contents. On the other hand, the brown seeds were higher on the ash, dietary fiber and monounsaturated fatty acid contents. The raw seeds of both varieties showed thermal and oxidative stability higher than 2 hours under 160 ˚C isotherm, indicating that the roasting does not cause thermo-oxidative changes in the seeds due to the presence of natural antioxidants. The applications of new thermic treatments, however, convert the organic compounds contained in roasted seeds, especially the fatty acid, susceptible to oxidation. Physical-chemical, spectroscopic and thermal data corroborate the results, which showed the highest thermal and oxidative stability of the degradation products of roasted seeds and toasted seed oils (OITi = 23 and 33 minutes for golden roasted seed oil and brown roasted seed oil, respectively) compared to the raw seeds and their oils (OITi = 20 minutes, for both varieties).