Flaxseed and Camelina Meals as Potential Sources of Health-Beneficial Compounds

Silvia Tavarini; Marinella De Leo; Roberto Matteo; Luca Lazzeri; Alessandra Braca; Luciana G Angelini

doi:10.3390/plants10010156

Flaxseed and Camelina Meals as Potential Sources of Health-Beneficial Compounds

Plants (Basel). 2021 Jan 14;10(1):156. doi: 10.3390/plants10010156.

Authors

Silvia Tavarini^{1

2}, Marinella De Leo^{2

3}, Roberto Matteo⁴, Luca Lazzeri⁴, Alessandra Braca^{2

3}, Luciana G Angelini^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agricultural, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
² Research Centre for Nutraceutical and Healthy Foods "NUTRAFOOD", University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
³ Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
⁴ Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, 40129 Bologna, Italy.

Abstract

Seed meals and cakes, deriving from minor oilseed crops, represent interesting co-products for the presence of a high content of proteins and bioactive compounds that could be successfully explored as valuable plant-derived feedstocks for food and non-food purposes. In this contest, flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) and camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) are becoming increasingly important in the health food market as functional foods and cosmetic ingredients. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of genetic characteristics and cultivation sites on the chemical features of seed meals deriving from two flaxseed varieties (Sideral and Buenos Aires) and a camelina cultivar (Italia), cultivated in Central and Northern Italy (Pisa and Bologna). The content of total phenols and flavonoids, seed oil, proteins and fatty acids have been evaluated, together with the chemical profiles of flaxseed and camelina meals. In addition, radical-scavenging activity has been investigated. All the examined seed meals resulted as rich in bioactive compounds. In particular, flaxseed meal is a good source of the lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) and hydroxycinnamic acid glucosides, while camelina meal contains glucosinolates and quercetin glycosides. Furthermore, all extracts exhibited a very strong radical-scavenging activity, that make these plant-derived products interesting sources for food or cosmetic ingredients with health outcomes.

Keywords: Camelina sativa; Linum usitatissimum; antioxidant capacity; bioactive compounds; co-products valorization; glucosinolates; lignans; phenols.