Camellia oil authentication: A comparative analysis and recent analytical techniques developed for its assessment. A review

The effect of extraction methods on the components and quality of Camellia oleifera oil: Focusing on the flavor and lipidomics

The objective of this study was to systematically elucidate the effects of conventional (Cold Pressing, CP; Hot Pressing, HP; Soxhlet Extraction; SE) and novel methods (Microwave-Assisted Extraction, MAE) on the physicochemical properties, bio-active substances, flavor and lipidomics of Camellia oleifera oil (COO). The cold-pressed COO contained the highest contents of squalene (176.38 mg/kg), α-tocopherol (330.52 mg/kg), polyphenols (68.33 mg/kg) and phytosterols (2782.55 mg/kg). Oleic acid was observed as the predominant fatty acid with the content of approximately 80%. HS-GC-IMS identified 47 volatile compounds, including 11 aldehydes, 11 ketones, 11 alcohols, 2 acids, 8 esters, 2 pyrazines, 1 furan, and 1 thiophene. A total of 5 lipid classes and 30 lipid subclasses of 339 lipids were identifed, among which TGs and DGs were observed as the major lipids. In summary, both cold-pressed and microwave-assisted technologies provided high-quality COO with high content of bio-active substances and diglycerides/triglycerides.

An integrative review of analytical techniques used in food authentication: A detailed description for milk and dairy products

The use of suitable analytical techniques for the detection of adulteration, falsification, deliberate substitution, and mislabeling of foods has great importance in the industrial, scientific, legislative, and public health contexts. This way, this work reports an integrative review with a current analytical approach for food authentication, indicating the main analytical techniques to identify adulteration and perform the traceability of chemical components in processed and non-processed foods, evaluating the authenticity and geographic origin. This work presents results from a systematic search in Science Direct® and Scopus® databases using the keywords "authentication" AND "food", "authentication," AND "beverage", from published papers from 2013 to, 2024. All research and reviews published were employed in the bibliometric analysis, evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of analytical techniques, indicating the perspectives for direct, quick, and simple analysis, guaranteeing the application of quality standards, and ensuring food safety for consumers. Furthermore, this work reports the analysis of natural foods to evaluate the origin (traceability), and industrialized foods to detect adulterations and fraud. A focus on research to detect adulteration in milk and dairy products is presented due to the importance of these products in the nutrition of the world population. All analytical tools discussed have advantages and drawbacks, including sample preparation steps, the need for reference materials, and mathematical treatments. So, the main advances in modern analytical techniques for the identification and quantification of food adulterations, mainly milk and dairy products, were discussed, indicating trends and perspectives on food authentication.

The Extraction Using Deep Eutectic Solvents and Evaluation of Tea Saponin

Tea saponins have high surface-active and biological activities and are widely used in chemicals, food, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides. Tea saponins are usually extracted using ethanol or water, but both methods have their disadvantages, including a negative impact on the environment, high energy consumption, and low purity. In this study, we explored an effective process for extracting tea saponins from tea meal using deep eutectic solvents combined with ultrasonic extraction and enzymatic techniques. The experimental results showed that a high extraction efficiency of 20.93 ± 0.48% could be achieved in 20 min using an ultrasonic power of 40% and a binary DES consisting of betaine and ethylene glycol (with a molar ratio of 1:3) at a material-liquid ratio of 1:35 and that the purity of the tea saponins after purification by a large-pore adsorption resin reached 95.94%, which was higher than that of commercially available standard tea saponin samples. In addition, the extracted tea saponins were evaluated for their antioxidant and bacteriostatic activities using chemical and biological methods; the results showed that the tea saponins extracted using these methods possessed antioxidant properties and displayed significant antibacterial activity. Therefore, the present study developed a method for using deep eutectic solvents as an environmentally friendly technological solution for obtaining high-purity tea saponins from tea meal oil. This is expected to replace the current organic solvent and water extraction process and has great potential for industrial development and a number of possible applications.

Combining plasmonic and electrochemical biosensing methods

The idea of combining electrochemical (EC) and plasmonic biosensor methods was introduced almost thirty years ago and the potential of electrochemical-plasmonic (EC-P) biosensors has been highlighted ever since. Despite that, the use of EC-P biosensors in analytics has been rather limited so far and the search for unique applications of the EC-P method continues. In this paper, we review the advances in the field of EC-P biosensors and discuss the features and benefits they can provide. In addition, we identify the main challenges for the development of EC-P biosensors and the limitations that prevent EC-P biosensors from more widespread use. Finally, we review applications of EC-P biosensors for the investigation and quantification of biomolecules, and for the study of biomolecular and cellular processes.

A critical review of the bioactive ingredients and biological functions of camellia oleifera oil

Camellia oleifera oil is a pure and natural high-grade oil prevalent in South China. Camellia oleifera oil is known for its richness in unsaturated fatty acids and high nutritional value. There is increasing evidence indicating that a diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids is beneficial to health. Despite the widespread production of Camellia oleifera oil and its bioactive components, reports on its nutritional components are scarce, especially regarding systematic reviews of extraction methods and biological functions. This review systematically summarized the latest research on the bioactive components and biological functions of Camellia oleifera oil reported over the past decade. In addition to unsaturated fatty acids, Camellia oleifera oil contains six main functional components contributing to its antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancer, neuroprotective, and cardiovascular protective properties. These functional components are vitamin E, saponins, polyphenols, sterols, squalene, and flavonoids. This paper reviewed the biological activity of Camellia oleifera oil and its extraction methods, laying a foundation for further development of its bioactive components.

Rapid quantitative authentication and analysis of camellia oil adulterated with edible oils by electronic nose and FTIR spectroscopy

Camellia oil, recognized as a high-quality edible oil endorsed by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is confronted with authenticity issues arising from fraudulent adulteration practices. These practices not only pose health risks but also lead to economic losses. This study proposes a novel machine learning framework, referred to as a transformer encoder backbone with a support vector machine regressor (TES), coupled with an electronic nose (E-nose), for detecting varying adulteration levels in camellia oil. Experimental results indicate that the proposed TES model exhibits the best performance in identifying the adulterated concentration of camellia oi, compared with five other machine learning models (the support vector machine, random forest, XGBoost, K-nearest neighbors, and backpropagation neural network). The results obtained by E-nose detection are verified by complementary Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis for identifying functional groups, ensuring accuracy and providing a comprehensive assessment of the types of adulterants. The proposed TES model combined with E-nose offers a rapid, effective, and practical tool for detecting camellia oil adulteration. This technique not only safeguards consumer health and economic interests but also promotes the application of E-nose in market supervision.

Geographical origin identification of camellia oil based on fatty acid profiles combined with one-class classification

Geographical Indication (GI) agricultural products possess specific geographical origins and high qualities, which require an effective geographical origin traceability method for the important protective trademarks. In this study, authentication models for Changshan camellia oil were developed by fatty acid profiles and one-class classification methods including data-driven soft independent modeling of class analogy (DD-SIMCA) and one-class partial least squares (OCPLS), and compared with traditional two-class classification models. The results indicated that the prediction errors of three two-class classification models were 63.8%, 12.1%, and 65.2% for the samples out of targeted geographical origins, respectively. By contrast, the one-class classification models could completely differentiate Changshan from non-Changshan camellia oils, even from the adjacent counties. Moreover, compared with traditional indicators of mineral elements, the model built by fatty acid profiles possessed higher sensitivity and specificity. It also offered a reference strategy for the geographical origin identification of other high-value oils or foods.

Raman spectroscopy combined with multiple one-dimensional deep learning models for simultaneous quantification of multiple components in blended olive oil

Blended vegetable oils are highly prized by consumers for their comprehensive nutritional profile. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a rapid and accurate method to identify the true content of blended oils. This study combined Raman spectroscopy with three deep learning models (CNN-LSTM, improved AlexNet, and ResNet) to simultaneously quantify extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), soybean oil, and sunflower oil in olive blended oil. The results demonstrate that all three deep learning models exhibited superior predictive ability compared to traditional chemometric methods. Specifically, the CNN-LSTM model achieved a coefficient of determination (R2p) of over 0.995 for each oil in the quantitative analysis of three-component blended oils, with a mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of less than 2%. This study presents a novel approach for the simultaneous quantitative analysis of multi-component blended oils, providing a rapid and accurate method for the identification of falsely labeled blended oils.

Insight into the comparison of key aroma-active compounds between camellia oils from different processing technology

Currently, the difference between key odorants of camellia oils from different processing technology (i.e., extra virgin camellia oil (EVCO), virgin camellia oil (VCO), fragrant camellia oil (FCO)) is unclear. In this study, a total of 91 odorants were identified by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC × GC-qMS). The headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS) provided fingerprint information for 57 odorants distinguished between EVCO, VCO, and FCO. Moreover, 76 odorants were shown flavor dilution (FD) factors range from 1 to 729, and fruity esters (ethyl 2-hydroxypropanoate, ethyl decanoate, and ethyl phenylacetate) with FD factors ≥ 27 and odor activity values ≥ 1 are the unique odorants in EVCO. (E, E)-2,4-Heptadienal, (E, E)-2,4-nonadienal, and d-limonene are the aroma-active compounds in VCO. While furfural and 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine with FD factors ≥ 243 are the major contributors to roasted and nutty odor in FCO. This work provides aroma markers for quality assessment of camellia oils.

Current trends and challenges in the analysis of marine environmental contaminants by isotope ratio mass spectrometry

An increasing number of organic and inorganic pollutants are being detected in the marine environment, posing a severe threat to the ecosystem and human health, even in trace concentrations. Isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) is one of the critical methods for determining the origin and fate of environmental pollutants and characterising their transformation processes. It has been used for a relatively long time for ecological monitoring of some well-studied industrial hydrocarbons at contaminated sites. However, the method still faces many analytical challenges. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent technical advances concerning IRMS analysis of various contaminants and discusses typical pitfalls encountered in marine environment analysis. Particular attention is given to the study of sampling techniques and sample preparation for examination, often the keys to successful research given the complexity of marine matrices and the diverse and numerous nature of contaminants. Prospects for developing IRMS to monitor pollution sources and pollutant transformation in the marine environment are outlined.

A green versatile packaging based on alginate and anthocyanin via incorporating bacterial cellulose nanocrystal-stabilized camellia oil Pickering emulsions

This study aims to develop a versatile intelligent packaging based on alginate (Alg) and anthocyanin (Ant) by incorporating bacterial cellulose nanocrystal-stabilized camellia oil Pickering emulsions. Firstly, bacterial cellulose nanocrystals (BCNs) matrix produced from kombucha was incorporated with camellia oil into via ultrasonic triggering, forming a stable and multifunctional camellia oil-bacterial cellulose nanocrystal Pickering nanoemulsions (CBPE). The microstructure and rheology results of the emulsion confirmed the stabilized preparation of CBPE. Subsequently, the CBPE was integrated into the three-dimensional network structure composed of alginate/anthocyanin. The composite film (Alg-Ant-CBPE) was designed through Ca2+ crosslinking, intermolecular hydrogen bonding and dehydration condensation. The fabricated color indicator films with different concentrations of CBPE (0.1 %-0.4 %), showed varying degree of improvement in hydrophobicity, UV shielding, mechanical strength, thermal stability, water vapor barrier properties and antioxidant capacities. When applied to yogurt, the Alg-Ant-CBPE4 exhibited more pronounced color changes compared to Alg-Ant, enabling visual detection of food freshness. In conclusion, the incorporation of Pickering nanoemulsion provides an effective and promising approach to enhance the performance of polysaccharide-based intelligent packaging.

UPLC-Q-TOF-MS, network analysis, and molecular docking to investigate the effect and active ingredients of tea-seed oil against bacterial pathogens

Object: This research intended to probe the antibacterial effect and pharmacodynamic substances of Tea-Seed Oil (TSO) through the use of ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) analysis, network analysis, and molecular docking. Methods: The major chemical components in the methanol-extracted fractions of TSO were subjected to UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. Network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques were integrated to investigate the core components, targets, and potential mechanisms of action through which the TSO exert their antibacterial properties. To evaluate the inhibitory effects, the minimum inhibitory concentration and diameter of the bacteriostatic circle were calculated for the potential active ingredients and their equal ratios of combinatorial components (ERCC) against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans. Moreover, the quantification of the active constituents within TSO was achieved through the utilization of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: The methanol-extracted fractions contained a total of 47 chemical components, predominantly consisting of unsaturated fatty acids and phenolic compounds. The network pharmacology analysis and molecular docking analysis revealed that various components, including gallocatechin, gallic acid, epigallocatechin, theophylline, chlorogenic acid, puerarin, and phlorizin, have the ability to interact with critical core targets such as serine/threonine protein kinase 1 (AKT1), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a monoclonal antibody to mitogen-activated protein kinase 14 (MAPK14), HSP90AA1, and estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1). Furthermore, these components can modulate the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase protein kinase B (PI3K-AKT), estrogen, MAPK and interleukin 17 (IL-17) signaling pathways, hereby exerting antibacterial effects. In vitro validation trials have found that seven components, namely gallocatechin, gallic acid, epigallocatechin, theophylline, chlorogenic acid, puerarin, and phloretin, displayed substantial inhibitory effects on E. coli, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, and C. albicans, and are typically present in tea oil, with a total content ranging from 15.87∼24.91 μg·g-1. Conclusion: The outcomes of this investigation possess the possibility to expand our knowledge base concerning the utilization of TSO, furnish a theoretical framework for the exploration of antibacterial drugs and cosmetics derived from inherently occurring TSO, and establish a robust groundwork for the advancement and implementations of TOS products within clinical settings.

Integrated the embedding delivery system and targeted oxygen scavenger enhances free radical scavenging capacity

World trends in oil crop growing area, yield, and production over the last 10 years exhibited an increase of 48 %, 82 %, and 240 %, respectively. Concerning reduced shelf-life of oil-containing food products caused by oil oxidation and the demand for sensory quality of oil, the development of methods the improvement oil quality is urgently required. This critical review presented a concise overview of the recent literature related to the inhibition ways of oil oxidation. The mechanism of different antioxidants and nanoparticle delivery systems on oil oxidation was also explored. The current review provides scientific findings on control strategies: (i) design oxidation quality assessment model; (ii) packaging by antioxidant coatings and eco-friendly film nanocomposite: ameliorate physicochemical properties; (iii) molecular investigations on inhibitory effects of selected antioxidants and underlying mechanisms; (iv) explore the interrelationship between the cysteine/citric acid and lipoxygenase pathway in the progression of oxidative/fragmentation degradation of unsaturated fatty acid chains.

Botanical Ingredient Forensics: Detection of Attempts to Deceive Commonly Used Analytical Methods for Authenticating Herbal Dietary and Food Ingredients and Supplements

Botanical ingredients are used widely in phytomedicines, dietary/food supplements, functional foods, and cosmetics. Products containing botanical ingredients are popular among many consumers and, in the case of herbal medicines, health professionals worldwide. Government regulatory agencies have set standards (collectively referred to as current Good Manufacturing Practices, cGMPs) with which suppliers and manufacturers must comply. One of the basic requirements is the need to establish the proper identity of crude botanicals in whole, cut, or powdered form, as well as botanical extracts and essential oils. Despite the legal obligation to ensure their authenticity, published reports show that a portion of these botanical ingredients and products are adulterated. Most often, such adulteration is carried out for financial gain, where ingredients are intentionally substituted, diluted, or "fortified" with undisclosed lower-cost ingredients. While some of the adulteration is easily detected with simple laboratory assays, the adulterators frequently use sophisticated schemes to mimic the visual aspects and chemical composition of the labeled botanical ingredient in order to deceive the analytical methods that are used for authentication. This review surveys the commonly used approaches for botanical ingredient adulteration and discusses appropriate test methods for the detection of fraud based on publications by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program, a large-scale international program to inform various stakeholders about ingredient and product adulteration. Botanical ingredients at risk of adulteration include, but are not limited to, the essential oils of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia, Lamiaceae), rose (Rosa damascena, Rosaceae), sandalwood (Santalum album, Santalaceae), and tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia, Myrtaceae), plus the extracts of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus, Ericaceae) fruit, cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon, Ericaceae) fruit, elder (Sambucus nigra, Viburnaceae) berry, eleuthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus, Araliaceae) root, ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba, Ginkgoaceae) leaf, grape (Vitis vinifera, Vitaceae) seed, saw palmetto (Serenoa repens, Arecaceae) fruit, St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum, Hypericaceae) herb, and turmeric (Curcuma longa, Zingiberaceae) root/rhizome, among numerous others.

Structure-guided preparation of fuctional oil rich in 1,3-diacylglycerols and linoleic acid from Camellia oil by combi-lipase

BACKGROUND

Diacylglycerol (DAG)-enriched oil has been attracting attention because of its nutritional benefits and biological functions, although the composition of its various free fatty acids (FFAs) and an unclear relationship between substrate and yield make it difficult to be identified and qualified with respect to its production. In the present study, linoleic acid-enriched diacylglycerol (LA-DAG) was synthesized and enriched from Camellia oil by the esterification process using the combi-lipase Lipozyme TL IM/RM IM system.

RESULTS

The relationship between FFA composition and DAG species productivity was revealed. The results showed that heterogeneous FFA with a major constituent (more than 50%) exhibited higher DAG productivity and inhibited triacylglycerol productivity compared to homogeneous constituents. Joint characterization by high-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-heated electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry identified that DAG components contained dilinoleic acid acyl glyceride, linoleyl-oleyl glyceride and dioleic acid acyl glyceride in esterification products. Under the optimum conditions, 60.4% 1,3-DAG and 61.3% LA-DAG in the crude product at 1 h reaction were obtained, and further purified to 81.7% LA-DAG and 94.7% DAG via silica column chromatography.

CONCLUSION

The present study provides a guideline for the identification of DAG species, as well as a structure-guided preparation method of DAG-enriched oils via the cost-effective combi-lipase. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Comprehensive Evaluation of Quality Characteristics of Four Oil-Tea Camellia Species with Red Flowers and Large Fruit

Red-flowered oil-tea camellia (ROC) is an important woody oil species growing in the south, and its oil has high nutritional value. There are four main species of ROC in China, namely, Camellia chekiangoleosa (CCH), Camellia polyodonta (CPO), Camellia semiserrata (CSE) and Camellia reticulata (CRE). Reports on the comprehensive comparative analysis of ROC are limited. This study investigated the fruit characteristics and nutritional components of four ROC fruits, and the results showed that ROC had high oil content with levels of 39.13%-58.84%, especially the CCH fruit, which reached 53.6-58.84%. The contents of lipid concomitants of ROC oil were also substantial, including β-amyrin (0.87 mg/g-1.41 mg/g), squalene (0.43 mg/g-0.69 mg/g), β-sitosterin (0.47 mg/g-0.63 mg/g) and α-tocopherol (177.52 μg/g-352.27 μg/g). Moreover, the transverse diameter(TD)/longitudinal diameter (LD) of fruits showed a significant positive correlation with the oil content, and ROC fruits with thinner peels seemed to have better oil quality, which is similar to the result of the oil quality evaluation obtained by the gray correlation coefficient evaluation method. Four ROC oils were evaluated using the gray correlation coefficient method based on 11 indicators related to the nutritional value of ROC. CCH oil had the highest score of 0.8365, and YS-2 (a clone of CCH) was further evaluated as the best CCH oil. Finally, the results of heatmap analysis showed that triglycerides could be used as a characteristic substance to distinguish CCH oil from the other three ROC oils. The PLSDA (Partial least squares regression analysis) model and VIP (Variable important in projection) values further showed that P/S/O, P/O/O, P/L/L, P/L/Ln, S/S/O, S/O/O and P/S/S (these all represent abbreviations for fatty acids) could be used as characteristic differential triglycerides among the four ROC oils. This study provides a convenient way for planters to assess the nutritional quality of seed oil depending on fruit morphology and a potential way to distinguish between various ROC oils.

Quality Change in Camellia Oil during Intermittent Frying

Camellia oil with a high oleic acid content is widely used for frying. To comprehensively describe the quality change in camellia oil during frying, the changes in composition, deterioration indicators, and volatile profiles were investigated. The results showed that tocopherols mainly degraded in the early stage of frying, followed by unsaturated fatty acids (UFA). This caused the carbonyl value and total polar compounds level to significantly increase. Moreover, frying promoted the accumulation of volatile compounds in terms of type and abundance, especially aldehydes, which are related to the degradation of UFA. Principal component analysis showed that the frying of camellia oil was divided into three stages. First, the camellia oil with a heating time of 2.5-7.5 h showed excellent quality, where tocopherol played a major role in preventing the loss of UFA and was in the degradation acceleration stage. Subsequently, as tocopherol entered the degradation deceleration stage, the quality of camellia oil heated for 10.0-15.0 h presented a transition from good to deteriorated. Finally, tocopherol entered the degradation stagnation stage, and the quality of camellia oil heated for 17.5-25.0 h gradually deteriorated, accompanied by a high level of volatile compounds and deterioration indicators. Overall, this work comprehensively determined the deterioration of camellia oil during intermittent frying and offered valuable insights for its quality evaluation.

Application of camellia oil-based diacylglycerol and its solid fractions in soft ice cream

Ice cream products are sweet and rich in taste, which make them popular desserts among consumers. However, the high-fat and high-sugar contents in ice creams may result in multiple health conditions after prolonged consumption. Camellia oil-based diacylglycerol (CD) oil can reduce the body fat accumulation due to their different metabolic pathways from triacylglycerol (TAG) oil. It is believed that the long-term consumption of CD can improve human’s health by lowering the plasma TAG and blood sugar levels. Nevertheless, CD is unsuitable for direct application in ice cream products due to its low solid fat content (SFC). Therefore, in the present work, fractionation was attempted to increase the SFC of the CD. Subsequently, camellia oil, CD, and its solid fractions were characterised and further incorporated in ice cream formulations. It was found that fractionation significantly (p < 0.05) increased the SFC of the CD. The solid fractions of CD exhibited similar physicochemical properties with the oils/fats commonly used for ice cream production, namely palm olein and milk fat. At 0°C, the SFC of the CD solid fractions was 29.33%; whereas at 37°C, the SFC decreased rapidly, which enabled them to melt quickly in the mouth. At the same time, CD solid fractions were rich in β'-form crystals which contributed to the rich, delicate, and smooth texture for ice cream products. The ice cream formulated with CD solid fractions showed better overrun (48.24%) and hardness (594.18 g) as compared to the ice creams prepared with camellia oil (with the overrun and hardness of 41.27% and 524.36 g, respectively) and CD (with the overrun and hardness of 39.77% and 284.31 g, respectively). The substitution of TAG with CD solid fractions made the formulated ice cream product a healthier dessert, and at the same time provided similar organoleptic properties as conventional ice creams.

Combining effect of camellia oil and squalene on hyperlipidemia-induced reproductive damage in male rats

Introduction

Camellia oil (CO), a common edible oil in China, contains a variety of active ingredients. In this study, we explored the combining effect and optimal feeding time of CO and squalene on hyperlipemia-induced reproductive damage rats and probably provided supportive data for use of CO for health benefits.

Methods

We established the hyperlipidaemia-induced reproductive damage model, and then the successfully modeled rats were randomly classified into four groups including a model control (MC) group, a camellia oil (CO) group, a camellia oil + squalene (COS) group, and a sildenafil (SN) group, which were feeding with different subjects during days 30 and 60. The normal (NC) group was fed under the same conditions.

Results

Our results showed that compared with the MC group, the CO, COS, and SN groups could significantly decline the serum TG, TC and LDL-C levels, increase the serum testosterone levels, the sperm counts in epididymidis and organ coefficients of penises, and no pathological change in penis and testis at days 30 and 60. Compared with the pure CO, the mixture of CO and squalene could significantly enhance the effect of decreasing the concentrations of TG, TC, and LDL-C and increasing the serum testosterone level and sperm count of epididymal tail, and the results of day 30 were better than those of day 60.

Discussion

CO and squalene have a combining effect on lowering blood lipid, improving the level of testosterone and the number of epididymal tail sperm, and promoting the recovery of erectile and sexual function on hyperlipidemia-induced reproductive damage rats on day 30.

Purification of Camellia Oil by Inorganic Ceramic Membrane

Camellia oil is an edible health oil with high medicinal value. While phospholipids, peroxides, and free fatty acids are present in unrefined camellia virgin oil (CVO), which has a negative impact on the quality characteristics and storage stability. This paper is to investigate the testing effects of transmembrane pressure and temperature on the membrane flux and degumming (the removal of colloidal substances from crude oil and which is mainly phospholipids) to determine the optimum process parameters for the purification of CVO. On this basis, the effects of purification treatments applied by using a membrane system with membranes of different pore sizes (200, 140, 20, 15, and 10 nm) on CVO were tested. The results indicate that the purification treatments of ceramic membrane on CVO reduced the contents of phospholipids (87.0% reduction), peroxides (29.2% reduction), and free fatty acids (16.2% reduction) at a transmembrane pressure of 0.4 MPa and temperature of 60 °C. At the same time, these treatments did not significantly alter the fatty acid composition. Thus, ceramic membranes have the potential for the purification of camellia oil, which could be an effective way to achieve the purification of camellia oil.

Effect of pretreatments of camellia seeds on the quality, phenolic profile, and antioxidant capacity of camellia oil

Camellia oil is one of the four major woody oils in the world and has high nutritional value due to its richness in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and bioactive substances. In order to compare the effects of pretreatments of camellia seeds on the quality, phenolic profile, and antioxidant capacity of camellia oil, three different pretreatment methods, i.e., hot air (HA), steam (ST) and puffing (PU), were used to treat the seed powder in the present study. All three pretreatments changed the internal structure of the camellia seeds. The oil yield was increased after all three pretreatments, with the highest oil yield increased by PU pretreatment (Based on the oil yield, we screened out the best conditions of the three pretreatments, HA pretreatment is 60°C for 40 min, ST pretreatment is 100°C for 15 min, PU pretreatment is 800 rpm). The fatty acids (FAs) of the oil were relatively stable, with no significant changes after three pretreatments. However, all three pretreatments had a significant effect on the acid value (AV), peroxide value (PV), and benzo(a)pyrene (Ba P) of the camellia oil. The PU and HA pretreatments could increase the tocopherol content and the total sterols content in the camellia oil. The ST and PU pretreatments significantly increased the free phenolics (FP) content, all three pretreatments reduced the contents of conjugated phenolics (CP) and insoluble-bound phenolics (IBP) in the camellia oil. The IBP made the most significant contribution to the antioxidant capacities of camellia oil. ST and PU prtreatments increased the antioxidant capacities of the total phenolics in the camellia oil. Eight phenolics in FP, CP, and IBP were significantly correlated with the antioxidant capacities of camellia oil. The results of the present study could provide some theoretical guidance for the pretreatment of camellia seeds for higher oil yield, phenolic content and enhanced antioxidant capacities of camellia oil.

Comprehensive lipidomics analysis reveals the changes in lipid profile of camellia oil affected by insect damage

Information on changes in lipid composition of seed oils under biotic stresses is scare. The camellia weevil, Curculio chinensis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) as a notorious seed predator of Camellia species, has caused huge economic losses in China. Lipidomics is used in this study to reveal the lipid composition of camellia oil and its changes after insect damage. 278 lipids including glycerolipids (GL) (221), glycerophospholipids (GP) (34), fatty acyls (FA) (13), sphingolipids (SP) (8), prenol lipids (PR) (1) and sterol lipids (ST) (1) were determined in camellia oils. Insect damage had a significant impact on lipids, particularly FA and GL. Ten significantly different lipids [FFA(18:2), FFA(24:6), TG(14:1/18:2/18:2), TG(16:0/23:0/18:2), TG(20:1/24:1/18:2), TG(18:2/24:0/18:2), TG(16:3/18:2/22:5), PI(16:1/18:1), PE(16:0/18:1), PE(18:1/18:2)] were identified as potential biomarkers for distinguishing oil extracted from non-infested oilseeds and oil from infested oilseeds. We also detected four most important metabolic pathways by bioinformatics analysis to explore the mechanisms underlying changes. Our findings may be useful for future camellia oil production and may provide new insight into improving of nutritional quality of camellia oil.

Comprehensive Evaluation of Quality of Camellia semiserrata Seed Oils from Various Harvest Dates

The ripening degree of camellia fruit is one of the key factors affecting the quality of camellia seed oil. In this study, taking Camellia semiserrata as the research object, the oil content, physicochemical indexes, nutritional indexes, fatty acid composition, and volatile compounds of camellia seed oils from various harvest dates (from September to October) were determined. The results showed that with the increase of the ripening degree of camellia fruit, the oil content of camellia seed increased at first and then decreased and reached the highest (58.74%) on September 30, while the acid value, peroxide value, β-sitosterol, α-tocopherol, and polyphenols of camellia seed oil showed a downward trend. Among them, the highest contents of β-sitosterol, α-tocopherol, and polyphenols were observed on September 2, which were 6881.60, 311.34, and 78.08 mg/kg, respectively. In terms of the fatty acid composition of camellia seed oils, the content of oleic acid increased at first and then decreased, the content of linoleic acid and palmitic acid decreased gradually, while the content of stearic acid increased gradually. A total of 37 volatile compounds were identified in different samples, including 12 aldehydes, 5 ketones, 12 alcohols, 2 acids, 5 esters, and 1 other. With the increase of the ripening degree, the concentration of aldehydes and alcohols increased at first and then decreased, the concentration of ketones and esters decreased gradually, but the concentration of acid compounds had no obvious rule. In addition, the camellia seed oils from various harvest dates were classified and comprehensively evaluated by principal component analysis and grey relation analysis. The results showed that different camellia seed oils could be divided into three groups, and the comprehensive score of camellia seed oils on September 30 was the highest. In general, this work can provide theoretical guidance for the harvest date of Camellia semiserrata.

Recent progress on harm, pathogen classification, control and pathogenic molecular mechanism of anthracnose of oil-tea

Oil tea (Camellia oleifera), mainly used to produce high-quality edible oil, is an important cash crop in China. Anthracnose of oil tea is a considerable factor that limits the yield of tea oil. In order to effectively control the anthracnose of oil tea, researchers have worked hard for many years, and great progress has been made in the research of oil tea anthracnose. For instance, researchers isolated a variety of Colletotrichum spp. from oil tea and found that Colletotrichum fructicola was the most popular pathogen in oil tea. At the same time, a variety of control methods have been explored, such as cultivating resistant varieties, pesticides, and biological control, etc. Furthermore, the research on the molecular pathogenesis of Colletotrichum spp. has also made good progress, such as the elaboration of the transcription factors and effector functions of Colletotrichum spp. The authors summarized the research status of the harm, pathogen types, control, and pathogenic molecular mechanism of oil tea anthracnose in order to provide theoretical support and new technical means for the green prevention and control of oil tea anthracnose.

Extraction of Oils and Phytochemicals from Camellia oleifera Seeds: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations

Camellia seed oil, extracted from the seeds of Camellia oleifera Abel., is popular in South China because of its high nutritive value and unique flavor. Nowadays, the traditional extraction methods of hot pressing extraction (HPE) and solvent extraction (SE) are contentious due to low product quality and high environmental impact. Innovative methods such as supercritical fluid extraction (SCFE) and aqueous extraction (AE) are proposed to overcome the pitfalls of the traditional methods. However, they are often limited to the laboratory or pilot scale due to economic or technical bottlenecks. Optimization of extraction processes indicates the challenges in finding the optimal balance between the yield and quality of oils and phytochemicals, as well as the environmental and economic impacts. This article aims to explore recent advances and innovations related to the extraction of oils and phytochemicals from camellia seeds, and it focuses on the pretreatment and extraction processes, as well as their complex effects on nutritional and sensory qualities. We hope this review will help readers to better understand the trends, challenges, and innovations associated with the camellia industry.

Effect of Refining Degree on the Quality Changes and Lipid Oxidation of Camellia (Camellia oleifera) Oil during Heating

Refining degree has an important influence on the quality of camellia (Camellia oleifera) oil. The deterioration behaviors and lipid oxidation of three kinds of camellia oils, including camellia crude oil (CO), moderate refined oil (MRO), and refined oil (RO), during heating were investigated in this study. The results of deterioration behavior analysis showed that the oxidation degree was RO > CO > MRO. Tocopherol and polyphenolic substances in the oil might help delay oil oxidation. The lipid oxidation results indicated that the heating process had greater effects on CO and MRO than RO; it upregulated neutral lipid content and downregulated phospholipid content in terms of lipid changes and the multiplicity of differences. Glycerophospholipid metabolism was the most remarkable pathway and was important to study the heating process of refined oil. Moderate refining is good for retaining the beneficial lipids in camellia oil. The results of this study would provide a theoretical basis for camellia oil processing.

Impact of Cold Stress on Leaf Structure, Photosynthesis, and Metabolites in Camellia weiningensis and C. oleifera Seedlings

Camellia weiningensis Y. K. Li. sp. nov. (CW) is an endemic oil-tea species in Guizhou province, distributed in the alpine karst area, which exhibits cold resistance and better economic characters than C. oleifera (CO). The mechanism of cold response in CW seedlings has not been studied in depth. Herein, we performed anatomical, physiological, and metabolic analyses to assess the impact of cold stress on leaf structure, photosynthesis, and metabolites in CW and CO seedlings. Anatomical analysis of leaves showed CW seedlings had greater leaf and palisade thicknesses, tissue structure tightness, and palisade-spongy tissue ratio to enhance chilling stress (4 °C) tolerance, but freezing stress (−4 °C) caused loosening of the leaf tissue structure in both CW and CO seedlings. Photosynthetic analysis showed a reduction in the chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence (Fv/Fm) and photosynthetic parameters under freezing stress in both CW and CO seedlings. Cold stress increased the abscisic acid (ABA) contents in both the Camellia species, and CW exhibited the highest ABA content under −4 °C treatment. Additionally, the indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content was also increased in CW in response to cold stress. An obviously distinct metabolite composition was observed for CW and CO under different temperatures, and significantly changed metabolites (SCMs) were enriched under freezing stress. Prenol lipids, organooxygen compounds, and fatty acyls were the main metabolites in the two Camellia species in response to cold stress. The top key SCMs, such as medicoside G, cynarasaponin F, yuccoside C, and methionyl-proline were downregulated under freezing stress in both CW and CO. The contents of some key metabolites associated with sugar metabolism, such as UDP-glucose, UDP-D-apiose, and fructose 6-phosphate, were higher in CW than in CO, which may contribute to enhancing the cold resistance in CW. Our findings are helpful in explaining how CW adapt to alpine karst cold environments, and will provide a reference for cold tolerance improvement and application of stress-resistant breeding of Camellia in alpine and cold areas.

Physiochemical characteristics and rheological investigations of camellia oil body emulsions stabilized by gum tragacanth as a coating layer

In this work, gum tragacanth (GT) was coated on the camellia oil body (OB) emulsions using an electrostatic deposition technique, and effects were investigated over a wide range of pH values, ionic strengths, temperatures, and freeze-thaw cycles. Special attention has been paid to the rheological features as a function of hydrocolloid concentration, thixotropy (hysteresis loop and in-shear structure recovery), temperature, and frequency. The electrostatic GT-OB surface protein interactions, confirmed by ζ-potential and confocal laser scanning microscopy measurements, led to the reduction of flocculation effects and enhancement of steric stabilization due to the adsorption of polysaccharides to OB surfaces. The activation energy values (E_a) appeared in the range of 21.92 to 8.02 kJ/mol at pH 4 as GT concentration increased from 0 to 1 wt%. The OBs are soft droplets with the degree of structure recovery (DSR) ranged from 0.451 to 0.533; however, GT coating showed synergistic effect on the DSR.

Integration of lipidomics and metabolomics for the authentication of camellia oil by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with chemometrics

The integration of lipidomics and metabolomics approaches, based on UPLC-QTOF-MS technology coupled with chemometrics, was established to authenticate camellia oil adulterated with rapeseed oil, peanut oil, and soybean oil. Lipidomics revealed that the glyceride profile provides a prospective authentication of camellia oil, but no characteristic markers were available. Sixteen characteristic markers were identified by metabolomics. For camellia oil, all six markers were sapogenins of oleanane-type triterpene saponins. Lariciresinol, sinapic acid, doxercalciferol, and an unknown compound were identified as markers for rapeseed oil. Characteristic markers in peanut oil were formononetin, sativanone, and medicarpin. In the case of soybean oil, the characteristic markers were dimethoxyflavone, daidzein, and genistein. The established OPLS-DA and OPLS prediction models were highly accurate in the qualitative and quantitative analyses of camellia oil adulterated with 5% other oils. These results indicate that the integration of lipidomics and metabolomics approaches has great potential for the authentication of edible oils.

Integration of small RNA, degradome, and transcriptome sequencing data illustrates the mechanism of low phosphorus adaptation in Camellia oleifera

Phosphorus (P) is an indispensable macronutrient for plant growth and development, and it is involved in various cellular biological activities in plants. Camellia oleifera is a unique high-quality woody oil plant that grows in the hills and mountains of southern China. However, the available P content is deficient in southern woodland soil. Until now, few studies focused on the regulatory functions of microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target genes under low inorganic phosphate (Pi) stress. In this study, we integrated small RNA, degradome, and transcriptome sequencing data to investigate the mechanism of low Pi adaptation in C. oleifera. We identified 40,689 unigenes and 386 miRNAs by the deep sequencing technology and divided the miRNAs into four different groups. We found 32 miRNAs which were differentially expressed under low Pi treatment. A total of 414 target genes of 108 miRNAs were verified by degradome sequencing. Gene ontology (GO) functional analysis of target genes found that they were related to the signal response to the stimulus and transporter activity, indicating that they may respond to low Pi stress. The integrated analysis revealed that 31 miRNA-target pairs had negatively correlated expression patterns. A co-expression regulatory network was established based on the profiles of differentially expressed genes. In total, three hub genes (ARF22, WRKY53, and SCL6), which were the targets of differentially expressed miRNAs, were discovered. Our results showed that integrated analyses of the small RNA, degradome, and transcriptome sequencing data provided a valuable basis for investigating low Pi in C. oleifera and offer new perspectives on the mechanism of low Pi tolerance in woody oil plants.

Molecular Characterization, Pathogenicity and Biological Characterization of Colletotrichum Species Associated with Anthracnose of Camellia yuhsienensis Hu in China

Camellia yuhsienensis Hu, a species of tea oil tree with resistance to anthracnose, is widely used to breed disease-resistant Camellia varieties. In 2019, anthracnose symptoms were observed on Ca. yuhsienensis for the first time. However, the species and biological characteristics of Colletotrichum spp. isolated from Ca. yuhsienensis (YX-Colletotrichum spp.) have not been elucidated. In this study, five isolates (YX2-5-2, 2YX-3-1, 2YX-5-1, 2YX-8-1-1 and 2YX-8-1-2), which were consistent with the morphological characteristics of Colletotrichum spp., were obtained from Ca. yuhsienensis. A phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that YX2-5-2, 2YX-3-1 and 2YX-8-1-2 belonged to first clade along with Colletotrichum fructicola. 2YX-8-1-1 belonged to the second clade along with Colletotrichum siamense. 2YX-5-1 belonged to the third clade with Colletotrichum camelliae. Pathogenicity tests revealed that the pathogenicity of YX-Colletotrichum spp. was stronger than that of Colletotrichum spp. isolated from Camellia oleifera (GD-Colletotrichum spp.). Biological characteristics illustrated that the mycelial growth of YX-Co. camelliae (2YX-5-1) was slower than that of GD-Co. camelliae when the temperature exceeded 20 °C. In addition, in the presence of ions, the mycelial growth of YX-Co. fructicola (YX2-5-2) and YX-Co. siamense (2YX-8-1-1) was also slower than that of GD-Co. fructicola and GD-Co. siamense. Furthermore, the ability of YX-Colletotrichum spp. to utilize lactose and mannitol was weaker than that of GD-Colletotrichum spp., while the ability to utilize NH4+ was generally stronger than that of GD-Colletotrichum spp. This is the first report of anthracnose of Ca. yuhsienensis induced by Co. fructicola, Co. siamense and Co. camelliae in China. These results will provide theoretical guidance for the study of the pathogenesis and control of anthracnose on Ca. yuhsienensis.

Essential Oils and Their Individual Components in Cosmetic Products

The current consumer demands together with the international regulations have pushed the cosmetic industry to seek new active ingredients from natural renewable sources for manufacturing more eco-sustainability and safe products, with botanical extract being an almost unlimited source of these new actives. Essential oils (EOs) emerge as very common natural ingredients in cosmetics and toiletries as a result of both their odorous character for the design and manufacturing of fragrances and perfumes, and the many beneficial properties of their individual components (EOCs), e.g., anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, and, nowadays, the cosmetic industry includes EOs or different mixtures of their individual components (EOCs), either as active ingredients or as preservatives, in various product ranges (e.g., moisturizers, lotions and cleanser in skin care cosmetics; conditioners, masks or antidandruff products in hair care products; lipsticks, or fragrances in perfumery). However, the unique chemical profile of each individual essential oil is associated with different benefits, and hence it is difficult to generalize their potential applications in cosmetics and toiletries, which often require the effort of formulators in seeking suitable mixtures of EOs or EOCs for obtaining specific benefits in the final products. This work presents an updated review of the available literature related to the most recent advances in the application of EOs and EOCs in the manufacturing of cosmetic products. Furthermore, some specific aspects related to the safety of EOs and EOCs in cosmetics will be discussed. It is expected that the information contained in this comprehensive review can be exploited by formulators in the design and optimization of cosmetic formulations containing botanical extracts.

Fast 1H-NMR Species Differentiation Method for Camellia Seed Oils Applied to Spanish Ornamentals Plants. Comparison with Traditional Gas Chromatography

Camellia genus (Theaceae) is comprised of world famous ornamental flowering plants. C. japonica L. and C. sasanqua Thunb are the most cultivated species due to their good adaptation. The commercial interest in this plant linked to its seed oil increased in the last few years due to its health attributes, which significantly depend on different aspects such as species and environmental conditions. Therefore, it is essential to develop fast and reliable methods to distinguish between different varieties and ensure the quality of Camellia seed oils. The present work explores the study of Camellia seed oils by species and location. Two standardized gas chromatography methods were applied and compared with that of data obtained from proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-NMR) for fatty acids profiling. The principal component analysis indicated that the proposed ¹H-NMR methodology can be quickly and reliably applied to separate specific Camellia species, which could be extended to other species in future works.