Erucic acid is a monounsaturatedomega-9 fatty acid, denoted 22:1ω9. It has the chemical formula: CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)11CO2H. It is prevalent in wallflower seed and other plants in the family Brassicaceae, with a reported content of 20 to 54% in high erucic acid rapeseed oil[2] and 42% in mustard oil. Erucic acid is also known as cis-13-docosenoic acid and the trans isomer is known as brassidic acid.
The seed oil of the rape plant is rich in erucic acid.
The name erucic means "of or pertaining to Eruca", which is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae. The genus includes colewort (E. sativa), which today is better known as arugula (US) or rocket (UK).
Erucic acid is produced naturally (together with other fatty acids) across a great range of green plants, but especially so in members of the genus Brassica. For industrial purposes and production of erucic acid, rapeseed is used; for food purposes a 'low-erucic acid rapeseed' (LEAR) has been developed (canola), which contains fats derived from oleic acid instead of erucic acid.[3]
Erucic acid is produced by elongation of oleic acid via oleoyl-coenzyme A and malonyl-CoA.[5] Erucic acid is broken down into shorter-chain fatty acids in the human liver by the long-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenaseenzyme.
As early as 1977, the use of rapeseed oil was deemed safe as a food additive.[6]
In 2003, Food Standards Australia set a provisional tolerable daily intake (PTDI) for an average adult of about 500 mg/day of erucic acid, extrapolated based on "the level that is associated with increased myocardial lipidosis in nursing pigs."[7] "There is a 120-fold safety margin between this level and the level that is associated with increased myocardial lipidosis in nursing pigs. The dietary exposure assessment has concluded that the majority of exposure to erucic acid by the general population would come from the consumption of colza oil. The dietary intake of erucic acid by an individual consuming at the average level is well below the PTDI; therefore, there is no cause for concern in terms of public health and safety. However, the individual consuming at a high level has the potential to approach the PTDI. This would be particularly so if the level of erucic acid in colza oil were to exceed 2% of the total fatty acids."[7]
Food-grade rapeseed oil (also known as canola oil, rapeseed 00 oil, low erucic acid rapeseed oil, LEAR oil, and rapeseed canola-equivalent oil) is regulated to a maximum of 2% erucic acid by weight in the US and Europe.[6][8]
^"Erucic acid". pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
^Sahasrabudhe, M. R. (1977). "Crismer values and erucic acid contents of rapeseed oils". Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. 54 (8): 323–324. doi:10.1007/BF02672436. S2CID84400266.
^ abAnneken, David J.; Both, Sabine; Christoph, Ralf; Fieg, Georg; Steinberner, Udo; Westfechtel, Alfred (2006). "Fatty Acids". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. doi:10.1002/14356007.a10_245.pub2. ISBN3527306730.
