Fatty acid composition of California grown almonds

• Date posted:  01/01/2008 
• Posted In:
• Almonds,
• Nutrient and Bioactive Composition,

Sathe, S.K., N.P. Seeram, H.H. Kshirsagar, D. Heber, K.A. Lapsley. 2008. Fatty acid composition of California grown almonds. J. Food Sci. 73(9):C607-C614.

Eight almond (Prunus dulcis L.) cultivars from 12 different California counties, collected during crop years 2004 to 2005 and 2005 to 2006, were extracted with petroleum ether. The extracts were subjected to GC-MS analyses to determine fatty acid composition of soluble lipids. Results indicated palmitic (C16:0), oleic (C18:1), linoleic (C18:2), and α-linolenic (C18:3) acid, respectively, accounted for 5.07% to 6.78%, 57.54% to 73.94%, 19.32% to 35.18%, and 0.04% to 0.10%; of the total lipids. Oleic and linoleic acid were inversely correlated (r = -0.99, P = 0.05) and together accounted for 91.16% to 94.29% of the total soluble lipids. Statistically, fatty acid composition was significantly affected by cultivar and county.