Lipids in fruit and vegetable

Lipids are structurally and functionally diverse. The most abundant lipids are triacylglycerols, which are used by plants as for dense energy storage. Lipids of vegetable origin are regularly consumed by humans as part of our everyday diet, for example, as cooking oil (>99% lipids) or from nuts and seeds (up to 75%).

Biological lipids are a chemically diverse group of compounds; the common feature is their insolubility in water.

The only major fruits and vegetables with a relatively high lipid content are avocado and the olive.

The content of lipids in avocado fruit is significantly higher than in other fruits, avocado fruit is used as a high-energy food source. Moreover, avocado oil is one of kinds of oil used all over the world and has been used both as a food and as constituent in cosmetics.

Studies showed that mulberry, red raspberry, marionberry, boysenberry and blueberry, the main fatty acids were found to be linoleic and linolenic acids. It was interesting that, all wild grown raspberry genotypes had higher amount of linoleic, palmitic and stearic acid than cultivated one.
Lipids in fruit and vegetable

Waxes of lipid

Simple lipids containing 3-carbon alcohol glycerol linked to one to three fatty acids or their derivatives. 

Examples of simple lipids are triglycerides, steroids, wax ester and waxes.

A wax is a complex, varying mixture of lipids with long fatty acid tails bonded to long chain alcohols or carbon rings.

The molecules pack tightly, so the result substance is firm and water repellent. Waxes in the surface of apples and other fruits from temperate zones are solids or semisolids pates, consisting of terpenes, ceryl cerotate, ceryl palmitate and other esters.

Waxes dissolved in fat solvents, and their solubility is dependent on temperature. Waxes are totally insoluble in water, a consequence of their hydrocarbon, non-polar, nature. They can wet and disperse pigments and can be emulsified with water which makes them useful in the furniture, pharmaceutical and food industries. 

The role of waxes is to protect the surface of plant leaves, stems and seeds from dehydration and infections by microorganisms.

Waxes also present in fish oils, especially in sperm whale blubber and whale head oil, which contain a ‘reservoir’ of spermaceti wax.
Waxes of lipid