EVALUATION OF MINERAL ELEMENT CONTENT IN GRAPE SEED AND DEFATTED GRAPE SEED

Abstract

A study of the grape seed and of the defatted grape seed has been made in order to evaluate the content of mineral elements, with the purpose of investigating the possibility of using them for human/animal consumption. The research was made individually for each grape seed sample, defatted grape seed respectively. The total ash content was determined according to SR ISO 2171:2009, as a percent of dry substance. The determination of mineral content was performed by the energy dispersive spectrometer, using Röntgen radiation, Shimadzu type (EDX 900HS) with high resolution and sensibility. The results obtained show that the grape seed and defatted grape seed contain macro elements such as calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S) and trace elements such as: zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn). The seeds of the studied grape varieties and the defatted grape seed have proven to be good sources of mineral elements. Both varieties of seeds can be considered an important source used for fortifying aliments in order to obtain food products with higher nutritional characteristics. At the same time, these products can be valued to obtain new products which result in diminishing waste. The data regarding the mineral content of the grape seeds are useful for the formulation of new diets and food processing techniques.