Changes in Tocopherols, Tocotrienols and (ß-Carotene During Processing of Palm Oil Extracted from Indian Grown Palm Fruit

Red palm oil is a rich source of natural
micronutrients, such as β - carotene, tocopherols and
tocotrienols and the effect of fractionation, refining and
bleaching of the oil on stability of micronutrients was
studied. The crude palm oil obtained from a local
factory (by expelling of Indian grown palm fruit) was dry
fractionated, refined and bleached to obtain the samples
for the study. The crude oil had a ß-carotene content
of 3693 ppm, total tocopherols and tocotrienols content
of 2130 ppm. Upon fractionation, the crude oil yielded
a stearin fraction (31%) and a olein fraction (69%).
The stearin and olein fractions contained 3261 and
3754 ppm P-carotene respectively, which were reduced
appreciably after refining and bleaching. The stearin
fraction contained 1199 ppm of total tocopherols and
tocotrienols which after refining was reduced to 923
ppm (by 23%) and after single bleaching to 659 ppm
(by 40.1%). Similarly the olein fraction contained 1889
ppm of total tocopherols and tocotrienols which after
refining was reduced to 1118 ppm (by 40.8%), after
single and double bleaching to 907 and 826 ppm
respectively (by 52-56.3%). The fatty acid composition
of stearin and olein fractions differed only in the oleic
acid content but for this change due to fractionation,
there was no change due to refining and bleaching as
expected. The commercially available Malaysian palm
olein oil contained only 830 ppm total tocopherols and
tocotrienols and zero β -carotene. The study indicated
that palm oil needs careful processing to retain the
original amounts of micronutrients in the processed oil
as 100% of p-carotene and 23-56% of tocopherols and
tocotrienols may be lost from the processed oil.