POTENTIAL SOURCES OF GAMMA-LINOLENIC ACID - A REVIEW

Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) has been found in the seed oils from at lea st 164 higher plant species belonging to ten botanical families. The d istribution of these species in terms of their GLA content is presente d in a table with the total number of species in each family. Four of them - Boraginaceae, Onagraceae, Saxifragaceae, Scrophulariaceae - see m to be full of promise because of the results already obtained. Hereo f a number of directions for further investigations have been inferred and discussed. This review can be considered as a contribution to the future discovery of species with high GLA seed oil, able to become ne w GLA sources.