Exploring the Bioactive Potential of Argan Oil Cake: A Comprehensive Physicochemical Comparison with Various Seeds Cakes

The argan oil industry generates a large quantity of argan oil cake. This residue is traditionally used as livestock feed. In order to explore other potential uses for this by-product, a full physico-chemical characterisation was carried out. The analysis includes mineral profiling, protein content, fiber content, fatty acid composition, sterol content, total polyphenol and flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity, in comparison with other cakes, namely almond, sesame, nigella, sunflower and soybean cakes. The results indicate that potassium (K), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and sodium (Na) are the main mineral elements in the argan oilcake. In terms of protein content, argan oilcake contained the highest content at 45.90 ± 0.10 g/100 g dry weight. The residual oil content was around 12.61 ± 0.8 g/100 g. Oil from argan press cake has high levels of oleic and linoleic acid (47.88 ± 0.20 and 32.10 ± 0.15 %) respectively. In terms of sterol composition, argan cake is the only one to contain Schotenol, Spenasterol and Stigma-8-22-dien-3b-ol. Argan oil cake showed remarkable values for total phenolic compounds (5.11± 0.01 mg GAE/g) and DPPH antioxidant activity (8.06 ± 0.08 mg AAE/g). The results suggest that argan cake could be considered a rich source of nutrients and that its extracts have substantial value-added potential, warranting attention in future research and development.