Fatty Acids Composition, Variation and Distribution in Different Accessions of the West African Pear (Dacryodes edulis) and Potential Health Benefits

The pulp of Dacryodes edulis is eaten raw, cooked or roasted by West and central Africans. The aim of this study was to determine the fatty acid composition, type, variation and distribution among different accessions of D. edulis purchased from different locations of Eastern Nigeria, using GC-MS data. The results showed that D.edulis is rich in ω-3,6,9 unsaturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids namely, pentadecanoic, tetradecanoic (myristic), tridecanoic, hexadecanoic (palmitic), undecanoic and octadecanoic (stearic) acids were common to all accessions. Unsaturated fatty acids identified in the four accessions included, Oleic, linoleic, linolenic, linoelaidic and several other polyunsaturated fatty acids including brassidic and vacennic acids, and 19,19-Dimethyl-Eicosa-8,11-dienoic acid (6.83±0.37%) a derivative of oleic acid which was found only in Nsukka samples. Two novel polyunsaturated fatty acids namely; Methyl,9,12-Heptadecadienoic acid and 2,6,10,14-Hexadecatetraenoic acid were identified in the present study. The ratio of saturation to unsaturation was calculated to be approximately 1:2. The concentration of TSFAs fell in the range of 27.07±1.75-39.87±1.72%, while TMUFAs was 3.14±0.22-10.77±0.55%, and TPUFAs was 46.81±1.22-58.71±2.33% respectively. We concluded that, the presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids in D. edulis may provide cardio-protective benefits in terms of human nutrition and could be substitutes for olive oil in healthy normo-cholesterolemic human diets. We further concluded that the differences in fatty acid composition, distribution, variation and concentration between the locations studied may be affected not only by their biogenetic origin but also by soil type and climatic conditions.