Enriched sunflower oil with omega 3 fatty acids from flaxseed oil: Prediction of the nutritive characteristics

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of enriching refined sunflower oil with omega 3 fatty acids by adding cold pressed flaxseed oil in order to obtain new vegetable oil with a high nutritive value. The results showed that blended oils were formulated to have a high content of n-6 (23.68 +/- 0.02 to 57.18 +/- 0.07% w/w) and n(3) (4.33 +/- 0.03 to 47.88 +/- 0.06% w/w) essential fatty acids, with optimization of their ratio. In the obtained blended vegetable oils the total tocopherols content ranged from 352.5 to 519.1 mg/kg, while the carotenoids content ranged from 1.30 to 6.49 mg/kg. It was concluded that the presence of higher amounts of flaxseed oil caused an increase in the content of alpha-linolenic fatty acid and carotenoids, a reduction of the total tocopherols, monounsaturated and omega 6 fatty acid content, contributing to the balance between nutritive characteristics.