EFFECT OF INDIAN GOOSEBERRY (Phynanthus emblica) ON FISH OIL ANTIOXIDATION

Fish oils are becoming important due to their nutritional implementations. Development of rancidity in fish oils is very fast and leads to reduction of the qualities of fish oils as well as fish. Prevention of development of rancidity in fish oils by the fruit of Indian Gooseberry (Phynanthus emblica) extracts was studied in detail. The ethanolic, methanolic and water extracts of Indian gooseberry were applied to fish oils and the activity of the different extracts was determined by measuring peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid value (FFA) and fatty acid composition (FAC) on eight occasions over forty four days of storage at room temperature (30°C). In the second experiment, active components of the ethanol extract were separated by hexane, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water, and the activity of these fractions were also measured by applying to fish oils. In the first experiment, the ethanolic extract treatment recorded the highest activity in prevention of formation of peroxides, free fatty acids, and the conversion of fatty acids than the methanolic and water extracts. The amount of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids increased whereas the polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased during the storage. The water extract treatment showed the lowest while the methanolic extract was intermediate. Results from the second experiment showed that the antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate fraction was higher than the other solvent fractions used in the study and this indicated that the active compounds might have a medium polarity. The study suggests the possibility of using Indian gooseberry to prevent rancidity of fish oils in industrial uses