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ABSTRACT
Oil extracted from African star apple by continuous extraction
process using soxhlet apparatus was subjected to physico chemical and
fatty acid profile analysis. Results obtained show that the acid value,
lodine value, peroxide value, saponification value, free fatty acid,
refractive index, melting point, smoke point, flash point, fire point,
and specific gravity are 30.67mg/g, 20.67mg/g, 5.00mg/g, 48.00mg/g,
0.87%, 0.96, 1.47, 19.00OC, 1.03, 122.00OC, 156.00OC, and 180.00OC
respectively. All these values confirm that African star apple oil is
suitable for human consumption as well as for industrial uses which
compared favourably with the value obtained in palm oil, groundnut oil
as well as cotton seed oil (Adewusi, 1997). In term of fatty acid
profile African star apple oil contains high percentage of unsaturated
fatty acids 85% oleic acid 7% and 6% of linoleic and linolenic
respectively while saturated fatty acid such as arachidoic, lauric were
recorded with maximum value of 17% recorded for arachidoic and lauric.
Therefore African star apple oil can be described as oil that has more
unsaturated fatty acids than saturated fatty acids which made it
suitable for human consumption as it prevent low density lipoprotein
which is a precursor of cholesterol that results into heart attack and
hypertension.