COMPOSITION OF SOME KOREAN SEED OILS

Abstract

Seeds of some Korean plants, used in popular medicine, were investigated for oil content, fatty acid composition and sterol composition. Two seed oils of conifers contained unusual polyenoic acids having 18 and 20 C-atoms. cis-5, cis-9, cis-12-Octadecatrienoic acid was identified as one of the major component fatty acids in the seed oil of Pinus koraiensis. Apart from their medicinal use, some of the investigated seeds of angiosperms, such as perilla, sesame or rape, are used mainly for oil extraction. The oils in the varieties cultivated in Korea do not differ in their fatty acid composition from the figures considered as average composition in Europe.