Comparative evaluation of four free radical scavengers for the inhibition of individual glycidyl ester formation in rice bran oil determined by UPLC-MS/MS

Summary This research investigated the effect of carnosic acid (CA), tert-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ), sesamol (SL) and L-ascorbyl palmitate (AP) on the inhibition of glycidyl esters (GEs) and oxidation parameter changes in rice bran oil (RBO) during heat processing. The electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis showed that the free radical scavenging ability of them was ranked as CA > TBHQ > SL > AP. With the addition of CA, TBHQ, SL and AP (0.6 g kg −1 ), the GEs content was reduced significantly from 987.98 ± 8.45 to 283.87 ± 4.78, 303.21 ± 4.38, 440.52 ± 3.82 and 500.55 ± 2.99 μg kg −1 , respectively. All four free radical scavengers had the highest inhibitory effect on C18:2-GE, followed by C18:1-GE and C16:0-GE. Moreover, the free radical scavengers were also effective to inhibit oil oxidation. Overall, the natural-free radical scavenger may be a promising candidate to mitigate GE formation and oil oxidation due to its effectiveness and safety.