Comprehensive Review of Seven Plant Seed Oils: Chemical Composition, Nutritional Properties, and Biomedical Functions

A suitable and balanced diet is a major factor determining human health and should comprise unprocessed food enriched with oilseed products containing bioactive components and fatty acids. This paper reviews the chemical compositions and biomedical functions of plant seed oils extracted from black cumin, evening primrose, hemp, milk thistle, sesame, flax, and pumpkin seeds. The review provides a comprehensive overview of current oil extracting techniques and of the composition and content of bioactive components, including fatty acids, phytosterols, tocopherols, phenols, and carotenoids. Moreover, we describe research findings on the medical applications, benefits and limitations of treatment with plant seed oils for diverse diseases such as mastalgia, premenstrual syndrome, menopause, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and urinary tract and liver disease, as well as their use in dermatology and chemotherapy. The use of plant seed oils as topical agents and their anti-bacterial properties are reviewed, as well as important precautions in their medical applications. The information provided in this review is intended to serve as a compendium for medical professionals in the field of integrative medicine, nutrition, and dietetics, and to help consumers make the best use of plant seed oils in accordance with their medical and health needs. The review is also addressed to food control laboratories, as it provides detailed tabularised data on the components and their contents in the above-mentioned seven plant seed oils. These data are highly useful for the development of new analytical methods for testing the quality and authenticity of oils.