INTERPRETATION
Summary of Results
- Moisture (0.12%): Very low moisture content is desirable in VCO for shelf stability and prevention of microbial growth. Your VCO has low moisture, indicating good quality.
- Ash (0.0405 g/100g): This indicates the total mineral content. A low ash content is typical for pure oils, showing minimal impurities.
- Fat (99.8 g/100g): Extremely high fat content confirms that your sample is almost pure oil, which is expected for virgin coconut oil.
- Protein (less than 0.0175 g/100g): Negligible protein content, as expected for an oil product.
- Carbohydrates (0.0395 g/100g): Very low carbohydrate content, typical of oils.
- Calories (898 per 100g): Calorific value aligns with typical fat energy content, which is about 9 kcal/g of fat.
- Saturated Fat (93.6 g/100g): High saturated fat content, typical of coconut oil, which is rich in medium-chain fatty acids like lauric acid.
- Unsaturated Fat (6.20 g/100g): Low unsaturated fat, consistent with VCO’s fatty acid profile.
- Trans Fat (less than 0.216 g/100g): Very low trans fat, favorable as trans fats are undesirable for health.
- Sodium (1.27 mg/100g), Calcium (16.3 mg/100g), Iron (0.666 mg/100g), Potassium (less than 25 mg/100g): These mineral levels are within expected ranges for natural oils and indicate the presence of trace minerals.
- Density 0.9154 g/mL: Typical density for virgin coconut oil at room temperature, indicating expected composition.
Conclusion
Overall, the results show that the VCO is of high purity and quality with expected nutritional and physicochemical characteristics for virgin coconut oil. It is low in moisture and impurities, rich in saturated fat characteristic of coconut oil, and contains very low trans fats, which is excellent.