Cereal Chem 46:635 - 641.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Nutrient Composition of Selected Wheats and Wheat Products. III. Tocopherols.

H. T. Slover, J. Lehmann, and R. J. Valis. Copyright 1969 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A variety of wheats and wheat products have been analyzed for the various forms of vitamin E. Data in micrograms per g. are given for the amounts of alpha-tocopherol. beta-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, delta-tocopherol, alpha-tocotrienol, and beta-tocotrienol, as determined by gas-liquid chromatography of their trimethylsilyl ethers. Eleven wheats, the flours from them, and products made from the flours were analyzed in duplicate. In addition, ten pooled consumer product samples from each of ten representative U.S. cities have been analyzed. The data from the wheat-flour-product series permit an assessment of the fate of the tocopherols present in wheat and their relative contributions to the tocopherols in the products. Although all the wheats had similar amounts of the same tocopherols, durum wheats were slightly lower in alpha- and beta-tocopherol and higher in alpha- and beta-tocotrienol. Processing into white flour removed the major part of all forms. The variation in the identity and quantity of tocopherols in the consumer products reflected, in most instances, differences in the nonwheat ingredients. Most baked products contained gamma- and delta-tocopherols, characteristic of vegetable fats, along with variable amounts of the tocopherols from wheat.