Temperature dependence of HNE formation in vegetable oils and butter oil

The temperature dependence of the formation of toxic 4-hydroxy-2-trans- nonenal (HNE) was investigated in high and low linoleic acid (LA) containing oils such as corn, soybean and butter oils. These oils contain about 60, 54 and 3-4% of LA for corn, soybean and butter oils, respectively. The oils were heated for 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 h at 190 °C and for 0, 5, 15 and 30 min at 218 °C. HNE concentrations in the oils were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The maximum HNE concentrations in heated (190 °C) corn, soybean and butter oils were 5.46, 3.73 and 1.85 μg HNE/g oil, respectively. The concentration of HNE at 218 °C increased continuously for all the three oils, although they were heated for much shorter periods compared to the lower temperature of heating (190 °C). HNE concentration at 30 min reached the maximum of 15.48, 10.72 and 6.71 μg HNE/g oil for corn, soybean and butter oils, respectively. HNE concentration at higher temperature (218 °C) was 4.9, 3.7, and 8.7 times higher than at the lower temperature (190 °C) and 30 min of heating for corn, soybean and butter oils, respectively. It was found that HNE formation was temperature dependant in the tested oils.