Lipophilic bioactive compounds in the oils recovered from cereal by-products

BACKGROUND: The by-products of seven different cereal grains were investigated as a source of extractable oil, rich in lipophilic bioactive compounds. RESULTS: Oil yields (gkg-1 DW) recovered from cereal by-products were as follows: 189 (rice bran)>112 (wheat germ)>74 (corn bran)>58 (oat bran)>41 (buckwheat bran)>39 (spelt bran)>33 (wheat bran)>27 (rye bran). The main fatty acids identified in the studied oil samples were palmitic acid (11.39-17.23%), oleic acid (11.76-42.73%), linoleic acid (35.54-62.65%) and α-linolenic acid (1.05-9.46%). The range of total tocochromanols and phytosterols in the obtained oils was 0.369-3.763 and 1.19-35.24gkg-1 of oil, respectively. The oils recovered from buckwheat and corn bran, and wheat germ were dominated by tocopherols (99.9, 84.2 and 96.5%, respectively), whereas the oat, rice, rye, spelt, wheat bran oils were rich in tocotrienols (73.9, 79.6, 78.1, 90.6 and 73.8%, respectively). The campesterol and β-sitosterol constituted 10.1-32.5 and 30.4-63.7%, respectively, of total phytosterols contents identified in all of the studied samples. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that oils recovered from the cereal by-products are richer sources of bioactive compounds, compared with traditional oils