DETERMINATION OF VITAMIN E CONTENT IN SUNFLOWER OILS AVAILABLE ON THE ROMANIAN MARKET

Abstract

Vitamin E is soluble in fat and alcohol, withstands temperatures up to 250ºC, but is sensitive to light and oxygen. Very high or very low temperature values reduce the amount of tocopherol in food by up to two-thirds. 12 samples of different types of sunflower oil were analyzed using HPLC with fluorescent detector. The total tocopherols amount was between 150-930 mg/l. The highest concentration was found in cold press sunflower oil, stored in dark glass bottles and the lowest in store bought sunflower oil, in PET packaging. α-Tocopherol had the highest concentration from all the other tocopherols, analyzed (β-Tocopherol, γ-Tocopherol, δ-Tocopherol). In some samples of sunflower oil, in PET packaging β-Tocopherol, γ-Tocopherol, δ-Tocopherol were under the detection limit. Sunflower oil no matter the technology used for it’s production it’s a an important source of α-Tocopherol.