EC Nutrition

Hemp is an excellent source of nutrients and phytochemicals that provide various health benefits. However, the presence of anti-nutrient factors (ANFs) limits the effectiveness of these nutrients in conferring health benefits. Additionally, hemp cultivars differ in the concentrations of phytocannabinoids and other polyphenols, making it crucial to investigate the best cultivar that can yield the maximum benefit. To determine this, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), saponins, tannins, and antioxidant activities using ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) and 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) were measured on defatted and non-defatted hemp cultivars, namely Hemp Gen Int. Grandi (HGIG), International Hemp Henola (IHH), and Adams and Family farm (CFX-1). The levels of phytocannabinoids in hemp cultivars were determined using UHPLC-MS/MS. Among the cultivars, HGIG had the highest TPC (mg GAE 100g^-1 dry weight (DW)) of 67.43, while IHH had the highest TFC (mg CE 100g^-1 dry matter (DM)) of 34.55. CFX-1 had the lowest TPC and TFC of 41.47 and 4.49, respectively. Furthermore, HGIG also has the highest antioxidant capacity, with a FRAP value (µmol Fe (II) SO₄ 100g^-1 DW) of 360.74, while CFX-1 had the lowest FRAP value of 105.5. The levels of phytic acid, saponin, and tannins varied significantly among the three hemp cultivars that were studied. Cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) was the most abundant cannabinoid in all three cultivars, with the highest concentration observed in HGIG. The study demonstrated that hemp is an excellent source of flavonoids and phenolic compounds. Additionally, the results indicated differences in the antioxidant properties and ANFs. These findings provide valuable insights for further testing and investigation.

 Keywords: Anti-Nutrients; Antioxidants; Extraction; Nutrients; Processing

1. Leonard W., et al. "Hempseed in the food industry: Nutritional value, health benefits, and industrial applications”. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety 19.1 (2020): 282-308.
2. Russo EB. "History of Cannabis and its preparations in saga, science, and Sobriquet". Chemistry and Biodiversity 8 (2007): 1614-1648.
3. Wang Qingling and Youling L Xiong. "Processing, nutrition, and functionality of hempseed protein: A review”. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety4 (2019): 936-952.
4. Farinon B., et al. "The seed of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.): Nutritional Quality and Potential Functionality for Human Health and Nutrition”. Nutrients 7 (2020): 1935.
5. Callaway JC. "Hempseed as a nutritional resource: an overview”. Euphytica 140 (2004): 65-72.
6. House JD., et al. "Evaluating the quality of protein from hemp seed (Cannabis sativa) products using the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score method”. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 58.22 (2010): 11801-11807.
7. Hullar I., et al. "Studies on the energy content of pigeon feed: Determination of digestibility and metabolizable energy content”. Poultry Science 12 (1999): 1757-1762.
8. Montero L., et al. "Hemp seeds: Nutritional value, associated bioactivities and the potential food applications in the Colombian context”. Frontiers in Nutrition 9 (2023): 1039180.
9. Olszowy M. "What is responsible for the antioxidant properties of polyphenolic compounds from plants?". Plant Physiology Biochemistry 144 (2019): 135-143.
10. Tachakittirungrod S., et al. "Study on antioxidant activity of certain plants in Thailand: Mechanism of antioxidant action of guava leaf extract”. Food Chemistry103.2 (2007): 381-388.
11. Hong S., et al. "Ethanol and supercritical fluid extracts of hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) increase gene expression of antioxidant enzymes in HepG2 cells". Asian Pacific Journal of Reproduction 2 (2015): 147-152.
12. Cui Q., et al. "New molecular entities and structure-activity relationships of drugs designed by the natural product derivatization method from 2010 to 2018". Studies in Natural Products Chemistry 69 (2021): 371-415.
13. Kanabus J., et al. "Cannabinoids-Characteristics and potential for use in food production”. Molecules 21 (2021): 6723.
14. Guick T and Moller BL. "Phytocannabinoids: origins and biosynthesis”. Trends in Plant Science 10 (2020): 985-1004.
15. Gilani G., et al. "Effects of antinutritional factors on protein digestibility and amino acid availability in foods". Journal of AOAC International 3 (2005): 967-987.
16. Khattab RY and Arntfield SD. "Nutritional quality of legume seeds as affected by some physical treatments 2. Antinutritional factors". LWT - Food Science and Technology 6 (2009): 1113-1118.
17. Am, AOCS Approved Procedure. "Rapid Determination of Oil/Fat Utilizing High Temperature Solvent Extraction” (2005).
18. AOAC Official Methods of Analysis International. 18^th Edition, Association of Officiating Analytical Chemists, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, Method 968.06 and 992.15 (2005).
19. AOAC Official Methods of Analysis International. 18^th Edition, Association of Officiating Analytical Chemists, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, Method 923.03 (2005).
20. AOAC Official Methods of Analysis International. 18^th Edition, Association of Officiating Analytical Chemists, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, Method 984.27, 985.01, and 2011.14 (2005).
21. Ahn Y., et al. "Anti-depressant effects of ethanol extract from Cannabis sativa (hemp) seed in chlorpromazine-induced Drosophila melanogaster depression model". Pharmaceutical Biology 1 (2021): 996-1005.
22. Gajula D., et al. "Determination of total phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant and chemopreventive potential of basil (Ocimum basilicum and Ocimum tenuiflorum L.)”. International Journal of Cancer Research 5.4 (2009): 130-143.
23. Chen Y., et al. "Acetylation and carboxymethylation of the polysaccharide from Ganoderma atrum and their antioxidant and immunomodulating activities”. Food Chemistry 156 (2014): 279-288.
24. Chen Y., et al. "Microwave-assisted Extraction used for the isolation of total triterpenoid saponins from Ganoderma atrum”. Journal of Food Engineering 1 (2007): 162-170.
25. Raboy V., et al. "Evaluation of simple and inexpensive high‐throughput methods for phytic acid determination”. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society 94.3 (2017): 353-362.
26. Herald TJ., et al. "High-throughput micro-plate HCl-vanillin assay for screening tannin content in sorghum grain”. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 10 (2014): 2133-2136.
27. AOAC Official Methods of Analysis International. Association of Officiating Analytical Chemists, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, Method 2018.11 (2005).
28. Citti C., et al. "Analysis of cannabinoids in commercial hemp seed oil and decarboxylation kinetics studies of cannabidiolic acid (CBDA)”. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 149 (2018): 532-540.
29. Jian F., et al. "Safe storage times of FINOLA^® hemp (Cannabis sativa) seeds with dockage”. Journal of Stored Products Research83 (2019): 34-43.
30. Farinon B., et al. "Effect of malting on nutritional and antioxidant properties of the seeds of two industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) cultivars”. Food Chemistry370 (2022): 131348.
31. Teleszko M., et al. "Hemp seeds of the Polish' Bialobrzeskie'and' Henola'varieties (Cannabis sativa var. sativa) as prospective plant sources for food production”. Molecules27.4 (2022): 1448.
32. Mattila P., et al. "Nutritional value of commercial protein-rich plant products”. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition2 (2018): 108-115.
33. , et al. "Physicochemical and functional properties of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) protein isolate”. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry54.23 (2006): 8945-8950.
34. Wang XS., et al. "Characterization, amino acid composition, and in vitro digestibility of hemp (Cannabis sativa) proteins”. Food Chemistry107.1 (2008): 11-18.
35. Russo R and Reggiani R. "Evaluation of protein concentration, amino acid profile, and antinutritional compounds in hempseed meal from dioecious and monoecious varieties”. American Journal of Plant Sciences6.1 (2015): 14.
36. Chauhan A. "Nutrition and health benefits of hempseed protein (Cannabis sativa)”. Pharma Innovation Journal 10.1 (2021): 16-19.
37. Jurgoński A., et al. "Effects of native or partially defatted hemp seeds on hindgut function, antioxidant status, and lipid metabolism in diet-induced obese rats”. Journal of Functional Foods 72 (2020):
38. Irakli M., et al. "Effect οf genotype and growing year on the nutritional, phytochemical, and antioxidant properties of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) seeds”. Antioxidants 8.10 (2019): 491.
39. Vonapartis E., et al. "Seed composition of ten industrial hemp cultivars approved for production in Canada”. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 39 (2015): 8-12.
40. Galasso I., et al. "Variability in seed traits in a collection of Cannabis sativa genotypes”. Frontiers in Plant Science7 (2016): 688.
41. Sokola-Wysoczanska E., et al. "Polyunsaturated fatty acids and their potential therapeutic role in cardiovascular system disorders-a review”. Nutrients 10 (2018): 1561.
42. Simopoulos AP. "The importance of the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio in cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases". Experimental Biology and Medicine 233.6 (2008): 674-688.
43. Siano F., et al. "Comparative study of chemical, biochemical characteristics and ATR-FTIR analysis of seeds, oil, and flour of the edible Fedora cultivar hemp (Cannabis sativa)”. Molecules24.1 (2018): 83.
44. Xu Y., et al. "Effect of genotype on the physicochemical, nutritional, and antioxidant properties of hempseed”. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research 3 (2021): 100119.
45. Benkirane C., et al. "Bioactive compounds from hemp (Cannabis sativa) seeds: optimization of phenolic antioxidant extraction using simplex lattice mixture design and HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS 2 analysis". RSC Advances12.39 (2022): 25764-25777.
46. André A., et al. "Evolution of the polyphenol and terpene content, antioxidant activity, and plant morphology of eight different fiber-type cultivars of Cannabis sativa cultivated at three sowing densities”. Plants9.12 (2020): 1740.
47. Rashida A., et al. "Antioxidant analysis in seeds of four different accessions of Cannabis sativa from Jammu”. Research and Reviews in Biotechnology and Biosciences 7.1 (2020): 1-10.
48. Yu LL., et al. "Antioxidant properties of cold-pressed black caraway, carrot, cranberry, and hemp seed oils”. Food Chemistry 4 (2005): 723-729.
49. Teh SS and Birch J. "Physicochemical and quality characteristics of cold-pressed hemp, flax, and canola seed oils”. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 1 (2013): 26-31.
50. Chen T., et al. "The isolation and identification of two compounds with predominant radical scavenging activity in hempseed (seed of Cannabis sativa)”. Food Chemistry134.2 (2012): 1030-1037.
51. Pojić M., et al. "Characterization of byproducts originating from hemp oil processing”. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry62.51 (2014): 12436-12442.
52. Özdemir H., et al. "Effect of seed roasting on oxidative stability and antioxidant content of hemp seed oil”. Journal of Food Science and Technology7 (2021): 2606-2616.
53. Shahidi F and Ambigaipalan P. "Phenolics and polyphenolics in foods, beverages, and spices: Antioxidant activity and health effects-A review”. Journal of Functional Foods 18 (2015): 820-897.
54. Flores-Sanchez IJ and Verpoorte, R. "PKS activities, and biosynthesis of cannabinoids and flavonoids in Cannabis sativa plants”. Plant and Cell Physiology49.12 (2008): 1767-1782.
55. Aloo SO., et al. "Identification of possible bioactive compounds and a comparative study on in vitro biological properties of whole hemp seed and stem”. Food Bioscience51 (2023):
56. Calzolari D., et al. "High added-value compounds from Cannabis threshing residues”. Industrial Crops and Products108 (2017): 558-563.
57. Frassinetti S., et al. "Nutraceutical potential of hemp (Cannabis sativa) seeds and sprouts”. Food Chemistry 262 (2018): 56-66.
58. Russo R and Reggiani R. "Variability in antinutritional compounds in hempseed meal of Italian and French varieties”. Plant 1 (2013): 25-29.
59. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Dietary reference values for nutrients summary report. Volume 14. No. 12 (2017).
60. Alonso-Esteban JI., et al. "Mineral elements and related anti-nutrients in whole and hulled hemp (Cannabis sativa) seeds”. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 109 (2022): 104516.
61. Sangeetha VJ., et al. "Zinc nutrition and human health: Overview and implications”. eFood 3.5 (2022): e17.
62. Selle PH and Ravindran V. "Microbial phytase in poultry nutrition”. Animal Feed Science and Technology 135.1-2 (2007): 1-41.
63. Kanabus J., et al. "Cannabinoids-Characteristics and potential for use in food production”. Molecules 21 (2021): 6723.
64. Spindle TR., et al. "Pharmacodynamic effects of vaporized and oral cannabidiol (CBD) and vaporized CBD-dominant cannabis in infrequent cannabis users”. Drug and Alcohol Dependence211 (2020): 107937.
65. Tran T and Kavuluru R. "Social media surveillance for perceived therapeutic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products”. International Journal of Drug Policy77 (2020): 102688.
66. Wheeler M., et al. "CBD (cannabidiol) product attitudes, knowledge, and use among young adults”. Substance Use and Misuse55.7 (2020): 1138-1145.
67. Williams A. "Hemp breeding and the uses of photoperiod manipulation" (2020).
68. Chen X., et al. "Contents of cannabinoids in hemp varieties grown in Maryland”. ACS Omega6.47 (2021): 32186-32197.