Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol.

105 (2003) 225–228 225

Soon-Nam Koa, Changes of vitamin E content in rice bran with

Chul-Jin Kimb,
Chong-Tai Kimb, different heat treatment
Hakryul Kimc,
Oil yield from unheated rice bran was 17.6% whereas that of microwave-heated rice
Soo-Hyun Chunga,
bran increased to up to 18.4%. Content and composition of vitamin E in rice bran oil
Sun-Mi Leea,
were affected by microwave heating. Especially, contents of α-tocopherol, α-to-
Hye-Hyun Yoond,
cotrienol, and γ-tocotrienol as well as total vitamin E were significantly (P <0.05) in-
In-Hwan Kima
creased when the rice bran was subjected to microwave heating for up to 30 s. When
rice bran was heated in an electric roaster up to 20 min at 170 °C, 5 min at 180 °C, and
a 3 min at 190 °C, the total vitamin E content in rice bran oil increased significantly
Department of Food and
Nutrition, College of (P <0.05) followed by a considerable decline beyond those time points. Microwave
Health Sciences, Korea heating was more effective for an increase in the vitamin E content than electric roast-
University, Seoul, Korea er heating. However, longer heating with both microwave and electric roaster caused a
b Korea Food Research In- significant degradation of vitamin E resulting in a decreased content of total vitamin E.
stitute, Sungnam, Korea
c Department of Animal Keywords: Electric roaster, microwave, rice bran, tocopherol, tocotrienol, vitamin E.
Science and Biotechno-
logy, Kyungpook National
University, Daegu, Korea
d Department of Culinary
Science and Arts, Kyung
Hee University, Seoul,
Korea

1 Introduction oilseeds. Recently, microwave heating has been found to

be particularly effective in releasing membrane-bound to-
Rice bran, a byproduct of the rice milling process, consti- cotrienol and tocotrienol-like compounds and in maximiz-
tutes about 10 wt-% of rough rice grain and contains 18- ing the stabilization of biological materials against de-
22% oil, making it the richest oil source from a grain grading enzymes [10]. Moreau et al. [11] reported that the

Short communication
byproduct [1, 2]. The antioxidant compounds in rice bran heat pretreatment increased the extractability of γ-to-
have purported health benefits as well as antioxidant copherol in corn hulls, suggesting that a significant
characteristics for improving the storage stability of foods. amount of γ-tocopherol was bound to membrane proteins
Rice bran contains relatively high concentrations of to- or linked to phosphate or phospholipid and that heat treat-
copherol compared with other oilseeds [3, 4]. Approxi- ment broke these bonds. The changes occurring, while
mately 1% of the unsaponifiable fraction of rice bran oil is seeds are conditioned prior to oil extraction, affect the
vitamin E [5]. Rice bran also contains tocotrienol, an ana- quality of oil and dictate the type of process to be used. In
logue to tocopherol. Tocopherols and tocotrienols share this regard, the vitamin E content of the oil extracted from
some structural resemblance consisting of a common rice bran after heat pretreatment was investigated to bet-
chromanol head and a side-chain at the C-2 position. ter understand the status of oil composition when the rice
bran was subjected to different heating sources and con-
Biological activities of vitamin E are generally believed to ditions.
be due to their antioxidant action by inhibiting lipid per-
oxidation in biological membranes [6-8]. Furthermore, the
tocotrienols differ substantially in their capacity to sup- 2 Materials and methods
press tumor cell proliferation [9].
2.1 Materials
Improvement in oil yield and positive changes in oil quali-
ty have been ascribed to the microwave treatment of Rice bran (moisture content; 15%) used in this study was
obtained from Kimpo Agricultural Cooperative Federation
(Kimpo, Korea). Tocopherol homologs were purchased
Correspondence: In-Hwan Kim, Department of Food and Nutri- from Merck (Merck Co., Darmstadt, Germany) and to-
tion, College of Health Sciences, Korea University, Chungneung-
Dong, Sungbuk-Gu, Seoul, 136-703, Republic of Korea. Phone:
cotrienol homologs purchased from Calbiochem (Cal-
+822-940-2855, Fax: +822-941-7825; e-mail: K610in@chol- biochem-Novabiochem Co., San Diego, CA, USA). Other
lian.net chemicals used in this study were analytical grade.

© 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 0931-5985/2003/0505-0225 $17.50+.50/0
226 Ko et al. Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 105 (2003) 225–228

2.2 Heat treatment of rice bran set at 325 nm. A Lichrospher Si-60 column (250 × 4.6 mm
i.d.; Merck Co.) was used. The mobile phase was n-hexa-
Two different heat sources were applied to the rice bran
ne/2-propanol (99:1, v/v) at 1.0 ml/min.
prior to oil extraction. In the first pretreatment, rice bran
(10 g) in a 250-ml glass bottle with a teflon cap was sub-
jected to microwave heating at 2450 MHz for various pe- 2.4 Statistical analysis
riods (15–120 s). For the second pretreatment, rice bran
Each reported value is the mean of determinations for
(200 g) was heated in an electric roaster (Tae-Whan Au-
triplicate samples prepared from each heating condition,
tomatic Instrument Co., Seoul, Korea) equipped with a
and the data were analyzed by analysis of variance
stirrer and a temperature controller. Rice bran was heated
(ANOVA) and Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. Statistical
with constant stirring from 10 to 120 min at 170 °C, 3 to
significance was accepted at a level of P <0.05 [12].
30 min at 180 °C, and 2 to 20 min at 190 °C. After heating,
the rice bran was allowed to cool to ambient temperature
before lipid extraction. The oils containing vitamin E were 3 Results and discussion
extracted according to the Soxhlet method using n-hexa-
ne for 12 h. n-Hexane was evaporated under vacuum at The oil yield from unheated rice bran was 17.6% whereas
35 °C. The extracted oil was stored at –20 °C under nitro- microwave-heating increased the oil yield up to 18.4%.
gen until analysis. However, heating time after 15 s up to 120 s with a mi-
crowave did not cause any significant changes in oil con-
tent of rice bran. Four tocopherol homologs, i.e., α-, β-,
2.3 Analysis of vitamin E
γ-, and δ-tocopherol, and three tocotrienol homologs, i.e.,
To determine vitamin E homologs in the rice bran oils, α-, γ- and δ-tocotrienol were identified whereas no β-to-
0.5 g of the oil, 2 ml 5% pyrogallol solution in ethanol, cotrienol was detectable. The major tocopherol homolog
30 ml ethanol, and a few boiling chips were placed in a and tocotrienol homologs in rice bran oil were α-to-
120-ml round-bottomed flask fitted with a reflux con- copherol and α- and γ-tocotrienol, respectively. The con-
denser and heated on a hot plate. When the mixture start- tents of total vitamin E and individual vitamin E homologs
ed boiling, the condenser was removed and 1 ml 50% in rice bran oil prepared at different microwave heating
aqueous potassium hydroxide solution was added. The times are given in Tab. 1. The content and composition of
sample was saponified for 5 min. After saponification, the vitamin E in rice bran oil were affected by microwave
flask was cooled. The mixture was transferred to a 250 ml heating. Especially, contents of α-tocopherol, α-to-
separatory funnel. Extraction of the sample with 50 ml di- cotrienol, and γ-tocotrienol as well as total vitamin E were
ethyl ether was repeated twice. The pooled diethyl ether significantly (P <0.05) increased when the rice bran was
layer was washed five times with 20 ml distilled water, fil- subjected to microwave heating for up to 30 s. However,
tered through anhydrous sodium sulfate and then evapo- longer heating time beyond 30 s decreased those con-
rated at 30 °C. The sample was diluted with 10 ml n-hexa- tents. There were no significant changes in the content of
ne and filtered through a Millipore 0.45 µm membrane other vitamin E homologs, i.e., β-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol,
and injected into an injector. The liquid chromatography δ-tocopherol, and δ-tocotrienol during microwave heating.
system consisted of a high-performance liquid chro- Yoshida et al. [13] reported that the tocopherol content of
matography apparatus (JASCO, PU-1580, Tokyo, Japan) sesame seed decreased as the microwave heating time
connected to a Rheodyne injector with a 20 µl sample of the oilseed increased. On the other hand, Oomah et al.
loop and a fluorescence detector (JASCO, FP-1520, [14] reported that the level of vitamin E in grapeseed oil
Tokyo, Japan) with excitation set at 298 nm and emission heated by microwave was significantly increased and

Tab. 1. Vitamin E contents in oils prepared from rice bran heated in a microwave (at a frequency of 2450 MHz)†.
Time Tocopherol Tocotrienol Total
[sec] α-T‡ β-T γ-T δ-T α-T3 β-T3 γ-T3 δ-T3 vitamin E

0 592d 22b 60d 1c 453b – 444bc 28a 1599c

15 625c 24ab 66cd 1b 456b – 434bc 28a 1634bc
30 677a 26a 72bc 1ab 490a – 492a 29a 1764a
60 654ab 25a 69bc 1ab 459b – 452b 28a 1689b
90 642bc 26a 75ab 2ab 451b – 441bc 28a 1664b
120 620c 25a 82a 2a 443b – 427c 28a 1625bc
† Means ± standard deviation [mg/kg oil]. Values in the columns with different superscript letters (a-d) are significantly different at P <0.05.
‡ Abbreviations: T – tocopherol, T3 – tocotrienol.
Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 105 (2003) 225–228 Vitamin E content in rice bran 227

Tab. 2. Vitamin E contents in the oils prepared from the rice bran heated in an electric roaster†.

Temperature Time Tocopherol Tocotrienol Total

[°C] [min] α-T‡ β-T γ-T δ-T α-T3 β-T3 γ-T3 δ-T3 vitamin E

0 588b 23a 60a 1a 449a – 433a 27ab 1580abc

10 610b 22a 60a 1a 451a – 435a 28a 1607ab
20 661a 23a 60a 1a 468a – 431a 27ab 1670a
170 40 625ab 23a 60a 1a 443a – 395ab 27ab 1574abc
60 605b 22a 57a 1a 432a – 382b 26abc 1525bc
90 589b 22a 56ab 1a 411ab – 355bc 25bc 1459c
120 531c 20b 50b 1a 373b – 321c 24c 1319d
0 588c 23b 60b 1a 449b – 433bc 27a 1580bcd
3 610bc 23ab 62ab 1a 458ab – 445ab 27a 1627b
5 663a 24ab 63ab 1a 467a – 465a 27a 1704a
180 10 634b 24ab 65a 1a 442bc – 415cd 26b 1606bc
15 613bc 24ab 63ab 1a 431cd – 391de 26b 1555de
20 606bc 24a 63ab 1a 422d – 391de 26b 1534de
30 605bc 25a 64ab 1a 417d – 374e 26b 1510e
0 588c 23a 60b 1b 449a – 433c 27ab 1580c
2 618b 23a 61ab 1ab 460a – 448b 27bc 1638b
3 686a 23a 61ab 1ab 483a – 502a 28a 1785a
190 6 619b 23a 66ab 1ab 429a – 416d 26d 1580c
9 609b 24a 68a 1ab 427a – 398e 26cd 1553cd
12 613b 23a 64ab 1ab 476a – 390ef 26d 1543cd
20 615b 24a 64ab 1a 425a – 378f 26d 1532d
† Means ± standard deviation [mg/kg oil]. Values in the same column (within the same subgroup) with different superscript letters (a-f) are
significantly different at P <0.05.
‡ Abbreviations: T – tocopherol, T3 - tocotrienol.

peaked at 9 min. Oomah et al. [15] also reported in their tamin E homologs in rice bran oils prepared by heating at
other publication that the level of tocopherol in hempseed different temperatures and times with an electric roaster.
oils treated with microwave heating was increased and There were significant (P <0.05) differences in total vita-
peaked at 6 min. However, our results indicated that con- min E content of the rice bran oils prepared under differ-
tents of major vitamin E homologs of rice bran were time- ent heating conditions. When rice bran was heated in an
dependently increased and peaked at 30 s of microwave electric roaster for up to 20 min at 170 °C, 5 min at 180 °C,
heating. These time differences could be caused by the and 3 min at 190 °C, the total vitamin E content in rice
different states of the materials used in their study. For ex- bran oil increased significantly (P <0.05) followed by a
ample, grapeseed and hempseed were microwave heat- considerable decline beyond those time points. For indi-
ed in the uncrushed, natural form resulting in a longer vidual vitamin E homologs, only the content of α-to-
time required to reach the highest vitamin E content than copherol was significantly increased up to a certain time
rice bran which was powdered before heating. at each temperature tested and then decreased showing
the same peak profile as those with total vitamin E con-
The oil yield from unheated rice bran was 17.6% whereas tent. However, other vitamin E homologs did not show
electric roasting with different temperatures (170~190 °C) any significant changes in their content during electric
and times (2~30 min) increased the oil yield to up to a roaster heating.
minimum of 19.6% and a maximum of 20.9%. However,
there were no significant differences in oil yield between In conclusion, heat pretreatment of rice bran with mi-
the temperatures and heating times tested in this study. crowave and electric roaster increased oil recovery and
These results suggested that heating of rice bran by an significantly improved total vitamin E content in the ex-
electric roaster caused higher amounts of oil to be ex- tracted oil depending on the heating conditions tested. Of
tracted from the oilseed since heating of oilseed could two different heat sources, microwave heating was more
possibly cause a certain amount of protein degradation effective for the increase in the vitamin E content than
resulting in the improved oil extractability [16]. Tab. 2 electric roaster heating. However, longer heating with
shows the contents of the total vitamin E and individual vi- both microwave and electric roaster caused a significant
228 Ko et al. Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 105 (2003) 225–228

degradation of vitamin E resulting in a decreased content [7] K. Komiyama, K. Iizuka, M. Yamaoka, H. Watanabe, N.
of total vitamin E. Tsuchiya, I. Umezawa: Studies on the biological activity of
tocotrienols. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 37 (1989) 1369-1371.
[8] B. C. Pearce, R. A. Parker, M. E. Deason, A. A. Qureshi, J.
Acknowledgement J. K. Wright: Hypocholesterolemic activity of synthetic and
natural tocotrienols. J. Med. Chem. 35 (1992) 3595-3606.
We are grateful to Agricultural R&D Promotion Center [9] L. He, H. Mo, S. Hadisusilo, A. A. Qureshi, C. E. Elson: Iso-
(ARPC) of Korea for financial support. prenoids suppress the growth of murine B16 melanoma in
vitro and in vivo. J. Nutr. 127 (1997) 668-674.
[10] R. H. Lane, A. A. Quereshi, W. A. Salser: U. S. Patent
References 5,591,772 (1997).
[1] B. O. Juliano, D. B. Bechtel: The rice grain and its gross [11] R. A. Moreau, K. B. Hicks, M. J. Powell: Effects of heat pre-
composition. In: Rice: Chemistry and Technology. Am. treatment on the yield and composition of oil extracted from
Assn. Of Cereal Chemists, Inc., St. Paul, MN (USA) 1985, corn fiber. J. Agric. Food Chem. 47 (1999) 2867-2871.
pp. 17-57. [12] SAS Institute Inc: SAS User’s Guide: Basic, Version 5 edn.,
[2] S. Lu, B. S. Luh: Properties of the rice caryopsis. In: Rice SAS Institute Inc., Cary, 1996.
Production. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York (USA) 1991, [13] H. Yoshida , J. Shigezaki, S. Takagi, G. Kajimoto: Variations
pp. 389-419. in the composition of various acyl lipids, tocopherols and
lignans in sesame seed oils roasted in a microwave oven. J.
[3] F. T. Orthoefer: Rice bran oil: Healthy lipid source. Food Sci. Food Agric. 68 (1995) 407-415.
Technol. 50 (1996) 62-64.
[14] B. D. Oomah, J. Liang, D. Godfrey, G. Mazza: Microwave
[4] R. M. Saunders: Rice bran: Composition and potential food heating of grapeseed: Effect on oil quality. J. Agric. Food
uses. Food Rev. Int. 1 (1986) 465-495. Chem. 46 (1998) 1017-4021.
[5] E. A. M. de Deckere, O. Korver: Minor constituents of rice [15] B. D. Oomah, M. Busson, D. V. Godfrey, J. C. G. Drover:
bran oil as functional foods. Nutr. Rev. 54 (1996) S120- Characteristics of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) seed oil. Food
S126. chem. 76 (2002) 33-43.

[6] C. L. Emmons, D. M. Peterson, G. L. Paul: Antioxidant ca- [16] H. M. A. Mohamed, I. I. Awatif: The use of sesame oil un-
pacity of oat (Avena sativa L.) extracts. 2. In vitro antioxi- saponifiable matter as a natural antioxidant. Food Chem.
dant activity and contents of phenolic and tocol antioxidant. 62 (1998) 269-276.
J. Agric. Food Chem. 47 (1999) 4894-4898. [Received: February 10, 2003; accepted: March 14, 2003]