Characterization of phospholipid profiles in six kinds of nut using HILIC-ESI-IT-TOF-MS system

Nuts, a class of fatty natural food, are associated with a series of health benefit. Lipid, which is the most abundant nutrient in nuts, could be one of the major contributors to many beneficial effects. In previous studies, only the composition of fatty acids was investigated. To better understand the nutritional value of nuts, phospholipids (PLs), with widely confirmed bioactivities, should be profiled as well. In this work, a HILIC-ESI-IT-TOF-MS system is applied to characterize PL profiles in six kinds of nut, including almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, walnuts and peanuts. A total of 165 PL molecular species were characterized and quantified. The obtained results showed that pistachios, cashews and walnuts are favorable nuts with diverse and high content of PLs; peanuts consist of abundant PL species but lower concentration of PLs; almonds and pecans might not be the first choice for PLs with relatively low species abundance and content.