Physicochemical Properties and Nutritional Composition of Seed Oil from Wild Pomegranate Varieties in Jolfa, Northern Iran.

Isa  Mohammad-pourfard; Mehdi  Jahanbakhsh; Mehran  Sayadi; Mahdi  Asadi-Ghalhari; ali salehi

doi:10.23751/pn.v27i4.17304

Authors

Isa Mohammad-pourfard Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4134-8743
Mehdi Jahanbakhsh Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3849-1776
Mehran Sayadi Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, Faculty of Health, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7761-361X
Mahdi Asadi-Ghalhari Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3718-3261
ali salehi Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2432-0423

Keywords:

Wild pomegranate; Seed oil; Punicic acid; Tocopherols; Sterols; Unsaturated fatty acids

Abstract

Pomegranate seed oil (PSO), a by-product of juice processing, is a rich source of bioactive lipids that have nutritional and industrial value. This study aimed to analyze the physicochemical features and nutritional composition of seed oils from four wild pomegranate cultivars, including Oshtabin, Kordasht, Qulan, and Duzal, found in the Jolfa region of northern Iran. The major fatty acid was punicic acid (52–58%), followed by oleic, linoleic, palmitic, and stearic acids, with a total oil content of 14.5–17.3%. The oils contained high concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids (USFA, 91.15–92.13%) and low concentrations of saturated fatty acids (SFA, 6.67–7.22%), yielding favorable USFA/SFA ratios of 12.6–13.8. The acid value of 1.49 mg KOH/g and low peroxide value (1.25 milliequivalents of oxygen per kilogram, meq O₂/kg) suggested good oxidative stability. In summary, wild pomegranate seeds from Iran are rich in oil and represent an underutilized resource with diverse potential uses in food, cosmetics, and the pharmaceutical industry.

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