OBJECTIVE:

Analyzing nutritional, mineral and amino acid compositions of resulting material of oil extraction from Brazil nut oil.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

International standard and current Brazilian laws were used, so the defatted Brazil nut flour was obtained by extraction in hydraulic press. For the physicochemical characterization it was used the methodology from Association of Official Analytical Chemists, the methodology from the Instituto Adolfo Lutz was used for the contents of total fibers. In the composition of macro and microminerals, the samples were prepared by acid digestion in microwave with further reading of the elements by spectrometry; and amino acid profile was obtained by high performance liquid chromatography and by chemical score of each amino acid, after that was compared to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization.

RESULTS:

The material resulting from Brazil nut oil is flour with a high nutritional quality with an average of 502.08 kcal per 100 g. In addition, the protein content showed an average of 37.54%, the lipid content around 35.68% and fibers with 9.65 g/100 g. About micronutrients, flour presented mineral richness, especially selenium and magnesium, with values close to or above the daily recommendations of references. Its amino acid profile showed the quality of structural components, evidencing sulfur amino acids such as methionine and cysteine, with mean values of 25.3 and 7.5 mg/g, respectively, besides the presence of branched-chain amino acids.

CONCLUSION:

It is evidenced that nutritional and functional quality makes this by-product suitable for application as a basic raw material or in partial substitutions as compound of nutritional enrichment in the food industry.

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