Salvia miltiorrhiza seeds (SMS) are the main by-product of the production processing of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae. The main purposes of this work are to analyse the nutritional components in SMS, to explore the antioxidant activity of the chemical components in SMS and to evaluate the possibility of SMS as a raw material for functional foods. The contents of crude fibre, total protein, carbohydrates, total phenolics and flavonoids in SMS and the composition and relative content of fatty acids in SMS oil were determined. The results suggested that SMS has high contents of crude fibre (28.68 ± 4.66 g/100 g), total protein (26.65 ± 2.51 g/100 g), total phenolics (6.45 ± 0.55 mg of gallic acid equivalent/g) and total flavonoids (3.28 ± 0.34 mg of rutin equivalent/g), as well as a high level of α-linolenic acid (33.774 ± 4.68%) in their oil. Twenty-two secondary metabolites were identified in SMS residue, and nine compounds were isolated. The IC50 values of the total phenolic content in SMS on an ABTS radical, DPPH radical, superoxide radical and hydroxyl radical were 30.94 ± 3.68 μg/mL, 34.93 ± 4.12 μg/mL, 150.87 ± 17.64 μg/mL and 230.19 ± 24.47 μg/mL, respectively. The results indicate that SMS contain many nutrients and have high utilization value as a promising functional food.
Keywords: Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge; characteristics of seeds; functional food material; phenolics; seed oil.