Microwave Heating Effects on Relative Stabilities of Tocopherols in Oils

ABSTRACT The relative stabilities of individual tocopherols during microwave heating were investigated in fatty acid esters and tocopherol‐stripped vegetable oils. The rate of tocopherol loss during heating was less from the highly unsaturated ethyl esters or vegetable oils than from ethyl laurate or olive oil. However, changes in chemical properties of the substrates depended on degree of unsaturation of esters and oils. The stability of tocopherols during microwave heating was δ > β > γ > α, and the order did not change with differences in the type of ethyl esters of fatty acids or oils.