Moroccan Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo L.) Fruits: Nutritional Value and Mineral Composition.

The strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.), grown throughout the Mediterranean, produces edible fruit; as it is easily bruised, the sweet, reddish fruit is used mostly to prepare jams, marmalades and alcoholic beverages. As the genus is paraphyletic, phytochemical analysis can assist in defining the fruit composition with the species Arbutus unedo L. (A. unedo). Here we report on the carbohydrate, total sugar, protein, fat, fiber, ash, and mineral content of wild fruit, harvested from 45 specimens from five locations. The dominant nutrients were carbohydrates (78.2-84.8 g/100 g), total sugars (52.1-67.2 g/100 g) and dietary fiber (11.0-20.1 g/100 g). Other important nutrients supplied by A. unedo fruit include P, K, and Fe. The fruit was observed to contain health-promoting components providing 42 and 36%, of recommended daily allowance (RDA) for fiber and zinc, respectively, as well as iron and manganese, at levels exceeding minimum RDA. The free-sugar profile revealed high glucose followed by fructose content with minor amounts of sucrose (14, 11, and 6 g/100 g, respectively). Significant differences both between regions and within individuals were observed for several traits. The richness of fruit nutrients in A. unedo confers nutritional value and as such, a promising alternative fruit source.

Modeling of the distribution of heavy metals and trace elements in argan forest soil and parts of argan tree.

The transfer of heavy metals and trace elements from argan forest soil into the wood, leaves, almonds, and argan oil was studied. Analyzed metals were: chromium, cadmium, copper, zinc, lead, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium. Correlations linking different behaviors of the studied heavy metals and trace elements observed by multidimensional analysis were attributed to partial-spatial variations. Whereas the RV-coefficient of wood, leaf, almond and oil groups was high, the soil group correlated poorly with the other groups.

Can the dietary element content of virgin argan oils really be used for adulteration detection?

Levels of eight dietary elements were assessed by ICP-AES in virgin edible and beauty argan oil samples prepared from four remote locations of the argan forest, and over a three-year period. The data showed sufficiently little variability to assess that all argan oil samples present, in terms of dietary elements, a similar composition, independently from the tree location within the argan forest. Therefore, adulteration detection by trace element analysis in edible and beauty argan oil is a method that can be generalised.