Abstract

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PLANT STEROL CONTENTS OF OLIVE OIL AND NIGELLA SEED OIL SOLD IN LIBYAN LOCAL MARKETS

Agnan MM., Dahesh SM.* and Shalaby MB.

ABSTRACT

Olive oil and nigella seed oil are characterized by their high contents of monounsaturated fatty acids. These oils exhibit numerous biological functions which improve health greatly. Diets rich in monounsaturated fatty acids can provide biological membranes with adequate fluidity and diminishes the lipid peroxidation hazards which influence polyunsaturated fatty acids. Regarding the heart, olive oil increases plasmatic levels of HDL- cholesterol and decreases those of LDL-cholesterol so the risk of suffering from heart complaints decreases. The present work studied the phytosterols contents; sitosterol, sitostanol, campesterol, campestanol and stigmasterol in olive and nigella oils sold in local Libyan traditional medical markets by using gas chromatography GC-MS. The results indicated that presence of high concentrations of total sterol contents in both olive oil and nigella seed oil (106.505 μg/50μl; 70.315μg/50μl) respectively, which were mixers of the fractions as following; campesterol (6.815 μg/50μl; 2.315 μg/50μl), campestanol (0.520 μg/50μl; 0.070μg/50μl), stigmasterol (10.04μg/50μl; 0.920μg/50μl), sitosterol (32.040 μg/50μl; 54.900 μg/50μl) and sitostanol (57.070 μg/50μl; 12.110 μg/50μl) respectively. Our findings highlight on the relationship between phytosterols contents of olive oil and nigella seed oil and their role on cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: Olive oil; Nigella seed oil; Hypercholesterolemia.