Profiles of lipid components, fatty acid distributions of triacylglycerols and phospholipids in Jack beans (Canavalia gladiata DC.).

Endogenous tocopherols in extracted lipids from Jack beans (Canavalia gladiata DC.) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and were investigated in relation to the fatty acids (FA) distribution of triacylgycerols (TAG) and phospholipids (PL). The dominant tocopherols were (δ)-tocopherol (78.9-96.5mg%) and (γ)-tocopherol (42.1-56.1mg%) with much smaller amounts of (α)-tocopherol (1.1-1.3mg%). The lipids of Jack beans comprised mainly TAG (34.6-38.6 wt.%) and PL (54.8-57.4 wt.%), and other components were also detected in minor proportions (0.3-3.8 wt.%). The PL components included phosphatidyl choline (46.2-48.7 wt.%), phosphatidyl inositol (23.4-29.6 wt.%) and phosphatidyl ethanolamine (18.5-21.2 wt.%). Comparison of these different beans showed, with a few exceptions, no significant differences (P>0.05) in FA distribution. The FA distribution of TAG among the five beans was evident in the Jack beans: unsaturated FA (93.3-95.3 wt.%) were predominantly concentrated at the sn-2 position and saturated FA (33.6-34.4 wt.%) primarily occupying the sn-1 position or sn-3 position. The results obtained from this work would provide useful information to both producers and consumers for manufacturing functional foods or beverages in Japan and elsewhere.