Tocopherol content and Fatty Acid profile of different Iranian date seed oils.

Date is one of the world's oldest food-producing plants wich has always played an important role in the economy and social life. Various researchers examined chemical composition and nutritional values of edible parts of dates while limited information about chemical composition and nutritional quality of date seed is available. In this study, fatty acid composition and total tocopherol content of 14 Iranian date seed oils were studied. Statistical analysis was performed through SPSS computing package. According to the fatty acid profiles, seven fatty acids were found through nearly 50% oleic acid in seeds. Shekar cultivar by 51.40% had the maximum amount and Lasht cultivar by 33.38% had the minimum amount of oleic acid. Tocopherol content in the samples varied between 33.86 μg vit E/g oil for Shahabi2 to 10.09 μg vit E/g oil for Shekar. Tocopherol content was 1.88 and 0.61 μg respectively in one-gram seed of these two cultivars. Iranian date seed oils classified as oleic-lauric oil, had a high amount of oleic acid and could serve as a profitable source of valuable oils for industrial applications.