The application of flaxseed extracts as food ingredients is a subject of interest to food technologists and nutritionists. Therefore, the influence of the extraction method on the content and composition of beneficial compounds as well as anti-nutrients is important. In the study, the effects of two solvent extraction methods, aqueous and 60 % ethanolic, on phenolic and cyanogenic glucoside profiles of flaxseed extract were determined and compared. The impact of extracted phenolic compounds on the antioxidant capacity of the extracts was also investigated. Defatted meals from brown and golden flax varieties were used as extraction material. The ethanolic extraction was more selective for phenolics (100.8-131.7 mg g-1) than the aqueous one (11.5-15.7 mg g-1). However, the contribution of particular phenolic compounds to total phenolics was much more dependent on flax variety than extraction method. A strong relationship was observed between both radical scavenging and ferric reducing activity and the content of phenolics (particularly secoisolariciresinol diglucoside). The correlation between extract chelating ability and phenolics was moderate suggesting that other flaxseed compounds are involved in this activity. The extraction method strongly affected cyanogenic glucoside content of flaxseed extracts; the aqueous extraction caused 96 % reduction in cyanogenic glucoside content (0.56-0.62 mmol g-1) when compared to the content in defatted meal (9.1-11.6 mmol g-1). On the contrary, ethanolic extraction resulted in the high cyanogenic glucoside content in the extracts (71-89 mmol g-1). The results reveals that ethanolic extraction gives extracts rich in antioxidant lignans; aqueous extracts have lower antioxidant activity than ethanolic but cyanogenic glucosides are significantly reduced.
Keywords: Antioxidant activity; Cyanogenic glucoside; Flaxseed; Phenolic compound; Solvent extraction.