chemical composition and oxidative stability of cucumis melon and cantaloupe seed oils

Cantaloupe and melon are members of the cucumis family known as cucumis melon. the oil content of cantaloupe and melon seeds was 39.45% and 30.09%, respectively. the percentage of saturated fatty acids in cantaloupe seed oil and melon seed oil was 18.67% and 16.30%, respectively. studies have shown that the main fatty acid of these oils is essential linoleic acid, which plays an important role in consumer health and is very effective in preventing cardiovascular diseases. the ratio of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids in cantaloupe and melon oils was 4.35 and 5.20, respectively, which showed a significant difference. there was no significant difference between iodine number, soap number, and unsaponified compounds in the oil content of cantaloupe and melon seeds. still, the amount of sterol, tocopherol, and phenolic compounds in melon oil was higher than that of cantaloupe oil, showing this oil’s superior nutritional properties. there was no significant difference between these oils’ specific gravity and refractive index.  investigation of changes in conjugated diene value, carbonyl number, oxidative stability index, refractive index and viscosity over the 8 hours of heat treatment showed that cantaloupe seed oil was more stable which shows the effect of conjugated diene value, the ratio of unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids and carbonyl number of oil (before of heat treatment) on the stability of oil. the aim of this work is to investigate the phytochemical composition and functional properties of the cucumis melon seeds, considered a by-product.