Health benefit of lipid composition of orange (Citrus sinensis) fruit pulp at different maturation stages

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which was adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, is ‘Good Health and Wellbeing’. To contribute in the actualization of this goal, the lipid composition of unripe (UR), about to ripe (AR), and ripe (RP) Citrus sinensis fruit pulps were evaluated using standard analytical techniques. The result showed that the same fatty acids and phospholipids were found in all the fruit pulps examined. The most abundant fatty acid in the fruit pulps was palmitoleic acid with concentration (%) of 26.48, 27.82 and 27.14 for UR, AR, and RP samples respectively. This was followed by oleic acid (25.36 %, 29.13 %, 28.66 %), palmitic acid (25.98 %, 20.14 %, 21.66 %), linoleic acid (12.30 %, 11.18 %, 11.33 %), linolenic acid (7.52 %, 8.71 %, 8.19 %), and stearic acid (1.95 %, 2.73 %, 2.72 %) for UR, AR, and RP fruit pulps respectively. The samples contain healthy saturated and unsaturated fatty acid with the concentration of unsaturated fatty acid (71.75 %, 76.92 %, 75.40 %) being prominent in UR, AR, and RP samples respectively. The most prominent phospholipids (mg/100 g) in the fruit pulps was phosphatidylethanolamine with concentrations of 5.86, 6.47, and 6.03 for AR, UR, and RP samples respectively. This was followed by phosphatidylcholine (4.02 mg/100 g, 4.52 mg/100 g, 4.22 mg/100 g), phosphatic acid (3.59 mg/100 g, 4.02 mg/100 g, 3.89 mg/100 g), diphosphatidylglycerol (3.38 mg/100 g, 3.79 mg/100 g, 3.59 mg/100 g), phosphatidylinositol (1.92 mg/100 g, 2.24 mg/100 g, 2.21 mg/100 g), phosphatidylserine (1.86 mg/100 g, 2.08 mg/100 g, 1.91 mg/100 g) and phosphatidylglycerol (1.07 mg/100 g, 1.21 mg/100 g, 1.18 mg/100 g) for UR, AR and RP fruit pulps respectively. The result revealed that Citrus sinensis is a healthy low fat food at every maturation stage and that the fatty acid and phospholipid composition increased as the fruit pulp ripened.