Butter tocopherol

Dutch chocolate liquor composition, 6 369t tocopherols, 6 370t Dutch cocoa butter... 

Another fat-soluble vitamin, E, was found by Evans and Bishop in 1923. Pregnant rats on a defined diet (alcohol-extracted casein, cornstarch, and lard) supplemented with butter (vitamins A and D) and yeast extract (vitamin B group) produced few young because of fetal resorption. Male rats on the same diet were sterile. The disorders, which have not been identified in man, were corrected by wheat-germ oil, from which tocopherol, the active ingredient, was isolated in 1936. In spite of intensive investigations and a recognition that the vitamin is an antioxidant and destroyer of free radicals, the function of vitamin E remains obscure. 

Butter, whole milk Saponify (hot), extract un- LiChrosorb Si-60 Hexane containing a -Tocopherol, all-trans- UV and fluorescence detectors 250... 

W Kneifel, F Ulberth, U Winkler-Macheiner. HPLC methods for the simultaneous determination of retinol and tocopherol in butter and whole-milk powder. Deutsche Lebensm Rundschau 83 137-139, 1987. (In German). 

There are a number of minor oils, all of high value, most of which are marketed mainly either for medical purposes or for their flavour. Olive, evening primrose, borage, fish oils and cocoa butter are described elsewhere. Others include hazelnut, walnut, macadamia, almond, apricot, pumpkin, poppy-seed and rice bran oils. The process of testing for authenticity of these oils should be approached in the same way as for the bulk oils above, i.e. fatty acid profile, sterols, tocopherols and triglyceride composition. However, there is little generally available published material on the ranges of values to be expected... 

The flavour of cocoa butter is determined by both the geographical origin of the beans and the deodorization conditions. Deodorization reduces the levels of free fatty acids but also some antioxidant compounds such as tocopherols. Deodorized butters are therefore often blended with expressed cocoa butter for better stability of the product. 

Tocopherols and tocotrienols are precursors of vitamin E and are important antioxidants in oils. Their reactivity means that they are not stable to many oil processing procedures, including deodorization, which reduces levels by up to 15%. Levels of tocopherols in cocoa butter are usually about 100-300 mg/kg, with the y-isomer (IV) being the major component (about 90%), but they can be entirely absent (Lipp et al., 2001) (Figure 3.3). Tocotrienols have a similar structure with unsaturation of alternate bonds along the alkyl chain. Only y-tocotrienol is found in cocoa butter and this at low levels (< 5 mg/kg). Palm oil is notably high in tocopherols and tocotrienols, of which a-tocopherol and a-tocotrienol make up 20% to 30% each with most of the remainder as y-tocotrienol. 

Eisner, J., Iverson, J.L. and Firestone, D. (1966) Gas chromatography of unsaponifiable matter. 4. Aliphatic alcohols, tocopherols and triterpenoid alcohols in butter and vegetable oils. J. Assoc. Off. Anal. Chem., 49, 580-590. 

Vitamin E is an effective scavenger of lipid peroxy radicals and is efficient at protecting unsaturated fatty acids against lipid peroxidation. The chemistry of vitamin E is rather complex as there are eight compounds, four tocopherols and four tocotrienols, which exhibit vitamin E activity. The relative bioactivity of the various compounds varies considerably, from 1.0 for a-tocopherol to 0.03 for 8-tocopherol. In milk, a-tocopherol accounts for virtually all of vitamin E, although very small amounts of (3-tocopherols and y-tocopherols are present. Also, the concentration of a-tocopherol in milk fat varies widely, with the level in samples of commercial butter ranging from 18 to 35 pg/g fat (MAFF, 1999). These concentrations equate to a low level of vitamin E bioactivity, 0.025 to 0.05 IU/g fat. 

Wade et al. (1986) reported that BHA and BHT were effective in retarding oxidation of anhydrous milk fat but DL-a-tocopherol acted as a pro-oxidant. Natural antioxidants in betel and curry leaves have also been reported to retard oxidation of anhydrous milk fat (Sharma, 1981 Parmer and Sharma, 1986). Amr (1991) reported that turmeric and wheat grits were as effective as BHA and BHT in controlling oxidative rancidity in sheep s anhydrous milk fat for up to 4 months. However, rosemary, sage, rue and fennel exerted pro-oxidant effects. Quercetin and rutin are reported to be efficient antioxidants in butter (Eriksson, 1987). 

The deodorization of cocoa butter is necessary to reduce free fatty acid content and to give a product that satisfies the present day requirement of a neutral bland flavor. Deodorization is a suitable method for partially eliminating chlorinated insecticides from cocoa butter. The normal deodorization temperatures are in the range 160-180°C. The oxidative stability of various cocoa butters listed in Table 4 shows extremely high values, and these are unaffected during the deodorization process. Stability against oxidation depends on natural antioxidants present in cocoa butters. The tocopherol composition in Table 5 shows a predominance of... 

Good sources of vitamin E are vegetable oils, such as com, soy, and peanut oii. Animal fats, such as butter and lard, contain lowrer amounts of the vitamin. The content of the most important form of vitamin E, a-tocopherol, in various foods is as follows. Com oil contains about 16 mg of a-tocopherol per 100 g sunflower oil 50 mg/100 g, wheat germ oil 120 mg/100 g and fish, eggs, and beef 0.5 to 2,0 rng/100 g. In plants, a-tocopherol resides in chloroplasts, while other forms of tocopherol ( i-, y-, and 5-tocopherol) occur elsewhere in the plant cell. Tocotrienols, which also have vitamin E activity, are not found in the green parts of plants, but in the bran and germ of seeds... 

For antioxidant formulation for fats and oil products, the number of additives and the ratio of the additives depends in a large part on the food product to be treated. For example, one can examine the results of Pongracz (641) wherein ascorbyl palmitate and -tocopherol were added singularly and combined to six different fats and oils, and the differences in response were noted. The combination antioxidant was most effective in animal fats, butter fat, and lard, and ascorbyl ascorbate was quite effective alone in vegetable and peanut oils, soybean, palm oil, and sunflower oil (Table XXII). The procedure for adding ascorbyl palmitate to an oil product is as follows ascorbyl palmitate (20-50 g) is dissolved in heated (100°C) oil or fat (5 kg), and the resulting warm... 

Since the tocopherol content of feeds varies with the season and since the amount of tocopherol in milk is a reflection of the dietary intake, it is to be expected that the tocopherol content of butter will vary throughout the year. Anglin, Mahon, and Chapman (1955) estimated the tocopherol content of 329 butter samples collected throughout the year from 28 towns in 8 provinces in Canada. The average values by months are presented in Kg. 5. Highest values were noted during the late summer months and lowest values during the late winter months. A 100% variation occurred,... 

Fig. 5. Seasonal variation of tocopherol in butter. From Anglin el al. (1955).

Ramanujan and Anantakrishnan (1958) have used this method to detect adulteration of ghee with hydrogenated peanut oil, which will raise the tocopherol by 28-207 % when added at levels of 5-25 %. Because of variations in butter, this method is not practical until at least 10 % of an oil such as peanut oil have been added as adulterant. 

---