Comparative study of the nutritional characteristics and fatty acid profiles of the seeds and seed oils of sweet, bell and bird varieties of pepper (capsicum species)

The proximate compositions of the seeds and fatty acid contents of the seed oils of the three varieties of Capsicum (pepper) species fruits – sweet, bell and bird pepper – have been determined using standard AOAC methods. Their proximate compositions gave moisture contents as 82.54%, 83.32% and 84.74% for bird, sweet and bell peppers respectively. Other proximate values in the various pepper samples ranged as follows: crude fat 1.52%–2.21%, crude protein 2.64%–3.51%, crude fibre 2.72%–4.71%, ash contents 1.62%–3.03% and carbohydrate contents 4.52–6.96%. The order of abundance of the fatty acids were linoleic > oleic > stearic > palmitic in each sample. All the other fatty acids, except myristic acid in bell pepper seed oil, had values lower than 1.00% in all samples. The total unsaturated fatty acids predominated the total saturated ones with values ranging from 79.23% in bird pepper to 82.33% in bell pepper. The total polyunsaturated fatty acids ranged from 57.80% in sweet pepper to 66.50% in bell pepper while the total essential fatty acids ranged from 57.78% in sweet pepper to 66.00% in bell pepper. The total unsaturated/saturated (P/S) ratio was highest in bell pepper, making it the most nutritionally useful of them all.