Phytosterols in cereal by-products

Phytosterols are hypocholesterolemic. Like corn fiber oil, the lipid extracts of certain cereal by-products may be rich sources of these health-promoting compounds. The objective of this research was to examine the phytosterol content and composition of various cereal by-products. Total lipids in rice bran, wheat bran, wheat germ, durum wheat (bran and germ mixture), oat bran, oat hull, and corn fine fiber were extracted, and the sterol profiles of the extracted lipids were analyzed by GC. Rice bran contained the most lipids (22.2%), followed by wheat germ, durum wheat, oat bran, wheat bran, and oat hull; corn fine fiber contained the least amount of lipids (1.7%). Sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol were the major phytosterols in these lipid extracts, whereas brassicasterol was detected only in wheat samples. Rice bran oil contained considerable amounts of cycloartenol and 24-methylenecycloartanol, which were unique to these samples. Total sterol concentrations in extracted lipids were similar for rice bran, wheat bran, wheat germ, and durum wheat (21.3-15.1 mg/g), but they were very low in oat bran lipids and oat hull lipids (3.4 and 8.2 mg/g, respectively). Corn fine fiber lipids contained the highest amount of sterols (48.3 mg/g). Rice bran appears to be the best source of phytosterols, with the highest oil content and high concentration of sterols.