Blending of edible oils with Pomegranate seed oil- An approach to improve the quality by incorporating ω-5 fatty acid

594-603Pomegranate seed oil (PSO) contains punicic acid (PA) also known as ω-5 fatty acid. PSO mainly contains polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA>88%) which exhibit benefits in wide range of diseases. Therefore, blends of PSO with other vegetable oils viz., palm oil (PO), mustard oil (MO), and sunflower oil (SFO) were prepared in the ratio of 10:90 and 20:80. The prepared blends showed rationale increase of PUFA (11.96, 8.52 and 10.37), total tocopherols (740-885; 638-793; 501-679 mg/kg) in PO, MO and SFO, respectively. The blends also showed improved levels of radical scavenging activity (RSA). The storage studies of blends have showed slight decrease in PUFA, total tocopherols and RSA of the samples stored at 27°C and 37°C. The oxidative stability of PSO and other vegetable oils (PO, MO and SFO) upon storage (60 days) showed increase in the peroxide value in the order of PSO>SFO>MO>PO. Addition of PSO to other vegetable oils in the ratio of 10 and 20% showed decrease in the peroxide content and upon storage, slight increase was observed in the values. Thus, blending of PSO with other vegetable oils provides PUFA, oxidative stability and natural antioxidants to the blends with a greater radical scavenging activity