Perfil de Ácidos Graxos em Andiroba

Andiroba (Carapa guianensis Aublet) is a species with great exploration potential in the Amazon, because of the oil extracted from its seed, which is composed of fatty acids: myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic (ω9), linoleic (ω6) and linolenic (ω3), has medicinal properties with commercial potential and stands out among the traditional oils in the north of the country. Thus, the objective of the present work was to verify the fatty acid profile in cerrado andiroba seed oil. The fruits of andiroba were acquired in the region of Jussara-GO, at the time of fruiting, were later sanitized, and had their moisture standardized in dehydrator (PARDAL PE100),
and stored in vacuum-laminated bags and kept refrigerated until analysis. The analysis, being performed in triplicate. The extraction of crude oil was performed by cold pressing in expeller type press (MPE - 40, ECIRTEC). The fatty acid composition was determined using gas chromatograph (HP 5890 series II with
flame ionization detector);
FFAP fused silica capillary column (25mx 0.2mm x 0.33 µm). The operating conditions were applied as follows: analytical hydrogen carrier gas; 1.0 L / min; column temperature 120 °C to 210 °C with 2 °C / min; split 1/100, final time 32 min. The identification of the compounds was made by comparing the retention times of chromatographic standards. According to the analyzes, we have the following composition for cerrado andiroba oil: myristic acid (18.90%), palmitic acid (13.80%), oleic acid (ω9) (58.60%), linoleic acid (ω6) (6.90%) and alpha linolenic acid (ω3) (1.80%).
The interest in andiroba oil is to find fatty acids that have health benefits with anti-inflammatory or cholesterol-lowering properties. It can be concluded that cerrado andiroba oil presented high levels of oleic acid, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), in the diet is associated with a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).