Lipid content, fatty acid profile, and nutritional value of new oat cultivars.

Abstract Oat is a cereal with a long history of cultivation and great importance in human nutrition, not only because of its starch and protein content, but also because of its substantial fat content with a relatively high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids. The fat content, fatty acid composition, and nutritional value of six new oat cultivars were evaluated. Total fat content ranged from 2.9 g/100 g (Korok) to 6.1 g/100 g of sample (Kamil). Naked oat cultivars had significantly higher fat content than hulled oat cultivars (p < 0.0001). The most abundant fatty acids in all tested oat cultivars were linoleic (34.6–38.2%), oleic (30.7–32.2%), and palmitic acid (21.4–22.7%). Naked cultivars had significantly higher amounts of linoleic (p yellow = 0.0125, p black = 0.0472) and lower amounts of palmitic acid (p yellow = 0.0019, p black = 0.0031) than hulled oat cultivars. All analysed oat samples had low atherogenic (0.17–0.19) and thrombogenic indices (0.30–0.34). These findings indicate that the tested new cultivars could be a good source of nutritionally valuable oil that plays an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Highlights • The fat content and fatty acid profiles of six new oat cultivars were evaluated. • Naked oat cultivars had higher fat content than hulled cultivars in this study. • Naked cultivars had a higher amount of linoleic acid than hulled cultivars. • All oat samples had low atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]