Food and Public Health 2020, 10(3): 72-80 DOI: 10.5923/j.fph.20201003.03 Enhancing the Stability of Polyunsaturated Sesame Oil Against Oxidation via Addition of Natural Antioxidant During Storage Ulfat M. Omar 1 , Hadeil M. Alsufiani 1,2 , Arwa A. Almalki 1 , Amjad S. Alsolami 1 , Lujain W. Kuddah 1 , Nourah M. Alghashmari 1 , Tahany Saleh Aldayel 3 , Rasha A. Mansouri 1,* 1 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2 Experimental Biochemistry Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 3 Nutrition and Food Science, Department of Physical Sport Sciences, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Abstract Punicalagin is a natural compound that extracted from pomegranate husk and can be used as valuable by product. Antioxidant effect of punicalagin on the oxidative stability of sesame oil upon storage was assessed and compared with synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxy tolouene (BHT). Sesame oil sample was categorized into three groups, sesame oil alone, sesame oil with BHT and sesame oil with punicalagin. All samples monitored and tested throughout 60 days. Tested experiments involved peroxide value (PV) to identify the primary products of oil oxidation, Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive substances (TBARS) and P-Ansidine value (PAV) both to identify the secondary products of oxidation. Moreover, total oxidation index (TOTOX) was calculated to evaluate the overall oxidation status of sesame oil samples. The results at day 30 and 60 revealed that the presence of punicalagin with sesame oil significantly reduced PV, PAV and TOTOX while it significantly inhibited TBARS formation at day 60 only in comparison with sesame oil alone. Moreover, the results of sesame oil with BHT exhibited significant reduction in PAV and TOTOX when compared to oil with punicalagin. These findings indicated a substantial potential for using punicalagin as natural antioxidant to improve the quality of sesame oil during storage. Keywords Natural antioxidant, Oxidation, Punicalagin, Sesame, Oil 1. Introduction Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil that extracted from raw sesame seed (Sesamum Lndicum Linn). Sesame oil is ranked as the second after olive oil due to its nutritional value. [1] Sesame oil is known for its usage as cooking oil due to its oxidative stability at storage [2,3] and during frying [4] compared to other vegetable oils. The remarkable stability of sesame oil is due to the presence of different antioxidant compounds such as tocopherols and lignans [5,6]. The common antioxidant activity of sesame oils’ tocopherol was showed by -tocopherol [7] and three lignan compounds including sesamin, sesamolin and sesamol are responsible for the strong antioxidant property of sesame oil [8]. Moreover, sesame oil contains different fatty acids such as linoleic acid (35-50%), oleic acid (35-50%), palmitic acid (7-12%) and stearic acid (3.5-6%) [9]. The composition and ratio of fatty acids in sesame oil are affected by physiological * Corresponding author: amansouri@kau.edu.sa (Rasha A. Mansouri) Received: Oct. 3, 2020; Accepted: Oct. 16, 2020; Published: Oct. 26, 2020 Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/fph and ecological factors [10]. Therefore, sesame oil was selected in this study. Oil is easily oxidized when exposed to different factors such as presence of light, trace metal and oxygen due to presence of unsaturated bond in its chemical structure. Oxidation of oil affect adversely on nutritional quality and shelf life of the oil [11]. Lipid peroxidation is a complex process which occurs in stages and rapidly produce numerous compounds. These compounds are responsible for the rancidity of lipids [12,13]. Hydroperoxides consider one of the main primary oxidation products which oxidized further during the process to produce secondary oxidation products. Different organic compounds as alkanes, alkenes, aldehydes and ketones are examples for the second oxidation products. In order to minimize the occurring of lipid oxidation and prolong the shelf-life, antioxidants were used. Antioxidants prevent the autoxidation of oils and fats by transferring their hydrogens to free radicals [14] and hence reduce the possibility of oil oxidation and rancidity. Antioxidants can be either presence in nature specifically in plant kingdom (e.g. Gallic acid, α-tocopherol) or manufactured (e.g. butylated hydroxy anisole and BHT) [15].