Berry seed oils as potential cardioprotective food supplements

Abstract Background There is a tendency to search for new, unconventional plant oils with health-promoting properties, preferably unrefined, which besides having an interesting fatty acid profile contain a high level of biologically active compounds. This review is focused on selected berry seed oils as potential cardioprotective food supplements, that is, strawberry, red raspberry, and blackcurrant seed oil, and their chemical composition and nutritional quality. Main text Berry seed oils are rich in essential fatty acids both from n-6 and n-3 family. The content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in selected oils was reported as follows (as percentage of total fatty acids): red raspberry seed oil, 85% (linoleic acid, 54%; α-linolenic acid, 32%); blackcurrant seed oil, 81.5% (linoleic acid, 48%; α- and γ-linolenic acid, 30%); and strawberry seed oil, 78% (linoleic acid, 42%; α-linolenic acid, 36%). Worthy of notice is also the presence of γ-linolenic acid in blackcurrant seed oil (approximately 17%). In addition, the seed oils are abundant in other bio-active compounds, such as sterols, tocols, and phenolic compounds. Except for blackcurrant seed oil, health-promoting aspects of the proposed seed oils have not been extensively investigated in in vivo studies. But, there are available studies on laboratory rats suggesting cardioprotective properties of these oils. Especially, a potent triglyceride-lowering effect of blackcurrant, strawberry, and raspberry seed oil was visible. The tested berry seed oils also ameliorated the inflammatory state in the organism and the liver fat content. Nevertheless, the consumption of the berry seed oils, especially together with an unbalanced diet, induced also some unfavorable changes in the organism. Conclusion The proposed berry seed oils can be considered edible and potentially cardioprotective supplements; however, there is a need for extensive in vivo researches that could confirm their properties, check the safety of their consumption, and allow to select the most suitable ones.