Comparative metabolomics of high-unsaturated fatty acid oils: exploring volatile and nonvolatile metabolite differences in olive, walnut, flaxseed, and camellia oils.

Authors

Bo Zhang, Zhanglian Chen, Kai Qin, Yongxing Yang, Li Xu, Zhengwu Zhang

Published in

Frontiers in nutrition. Volume 13. Pages 1853929. Epub Aug 03, 2026.

Abstract

Olive, walnut, flaxseed, and camellia oils are premium edible oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids, yet they exhibit distinct fatty acid profiles: olive and camellia oils are high in monounsaturated fatty acids, while walnut and flaxseed oils are abundant in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Despite their market value and nutritional importance, a systematic comparative metabolomic analysis covering both volatile and non‑volatile compounds under unified conditions has been lacking.
We performed a comprehensive metabolomic comparison of the four oils using headspace solid‑phase microextraction/gas chromatography‑mass spectrometry (HS‑SPME/GC‑MS) for volatile compounds and ultra‑high‑performance liquid chromatography‑high‑resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC‑HRMS) for non‑volatile metabolites. Multivariate statistical methods, including principal component analysis (PCA), partial least‑squares discriminant analysis (PLS‑DA), and relative odor activity value (ROAV) calculation, were applied to identify differential metabolites and characteristic biomarkers.
A total of 100 volatile and 1,186 non‑volatile metabolites were identified, covering alcohols, aldehydes, fatty acids, terpenes, phenolics, and others. PCA and heatmap analyses showed clear separation among the four oils. Common flavor markers included hexanal, ethanol, and ethyl hexanoate, while specific biomarkers such as hydroxytyrosol (olive oil), juglone (walnut oil), lignans (flaxseed oil), and camelliasaponin (camellia oil) were distinguished. ROAV analysis highlighted key flavor‑active volatiles, and differential metabolites were significantly correlated with flavor attributes, oxidative stability, and nutritional characteristics.
Our integrated volatile‑non‑volatile metabolomic approach provides a systematic foundation for comparing the compositional, flavor, and quality differences among high‑unsaturated fatty acid vegetable oils. The identified biomarkers and their correlations offer valuable tools for oil authentication, quality control, and functional product development, demonstrating the superiority of combined metabolomic profiling over single‑platform analyses.

PMID:
42609451
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.