Phytosterols and γ-oryzanol in rice bran oils and distillates from physical refining process

Commercially available refined rice bran oil (RBO) contained high contents of phytosterol and gamma-oryzanol, that is, 858-1034 and 248-887 mg per 100 g oil, respectively. Although the crude rice bran oil (CRBO) had high contents of both phytochemicals (1362-1376 mg phytosterol per 100 g and 15991666 mg gamma-oryzanol per 100 g), physical refining process resulted in their reduction to 820-895 mg phytosterol per 100 g and 933-960 mg gamma-oryzanol per 100 g in RBO (P < 0.05). Both phytochemicals evaporated and accumulated in the deodoriser distillate (DD) to some extent during the deodorising step. Further distillation of DD using molecular distillation (MD) evaporated the free fatty acids (FFAs), resulting in the unevaporated fraction (UMD) having the acid values of 5.6-9.3 mg KOH g(-1). The UMD also contained 1585-3391 mg phytosterol per 100 g and 781-848 mg gamma-oryzanol per 100 g. Results suggest potential use of DD as the source of phytochemicals for further concentration by MD.