Sesamol is relatively inexpensive and well-documented to have strong antioxidant activity and health benefits. However, it is not being used in the food industry for frying oil yet. In this study, to demonstrate the practical use of sesamol as antioxidant, it was tested in a miniaturized frying device where pieces of potato were fried with small-scale frying equipment and compared with TBHQ, a synthetic antioxidant. Oxidation of soybean oil was determined by gel permeation chromatography for polymerized triacylglycerols and by 1H NMR spectroscopy for reactions at reactive sites of soybean oil molecules including olefinic, bisallylic and allylic protons during frying.  An HPLC experiment showed that the concentration of sesamol decreased sharply during frying. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that sesamol is highly volatile and easily oxidizes when exposed to air. To overcome this problem, two multiple addition methods were evaluated in which sesamol was added portion by portion every hour. The multiple additions of divided portions of 0.66% (w/w) sesamol maintained the concentration of sesamol at the minimum of 0.04-0.06% throughout the frying process and showed improved antioxidant activity compared to one single addition of 0.66% sesamol at the beginning of frying.  One of the multiple addition methods showed 28, 18, 59, and 27% less polymerized triacylglycerols and losses of olefinic, bisallylic and allylic protons, respectively, than 0.020% TBHQ after 8-hr frying. This study shows that sesamol can be used as an alternative for synthetic antioxidants for frying oil.

Sesamol as a natural antioxidant for frying oil

246th National Meeting (2013)

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