Abstract
The β-carbolines, mainly including harman and norharman, are a group of naturally occurring, plant-derived alkaloids, and are also considered as nonpolar heterocyclic aromatic amines. Sesame seed oils contain a high level of β-carbolines (harman and norharman). In China, sesame seed oil blends are one of the most popular types of vegetable oils blends, which can be used as cooking oils or frying oils. Thus, it is meaningful to investigate the degradation of β-carbolines (harman and norharman) in sesame seed oil blends as frying oils during heating. In this work, the loss of harman and norharman in different types of sesame seed oil blends have been investigated. The results showed that the degradation of harman and norharman were dependent both on the type of oil blends, heating temperature and time. Harman and norharman were more degraded during heating (150 °C, 180 °C) in oleic acid-rich oil blends compared to polyunsaturated acid-rich oil blends. Mechanistic investigation suggested that the reduction in harman and norharman in oil blends during heating was mainly due to the oxidative degradation reaction between β-carbolines and lipid oxidation products. Therefore, the contents of β-carbolines (harman and norharman) in sesame seed oil blends when used as frying oils and heated can be decreased with prolonged cooking time.
Highlights
Received: 14 October 2021Accepted: 17 November 2021Published: 20 November 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in Molecules 2021, 26, x published maps and institutional affiliations.β-carbolines, mainly including 1-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole and 9Hpyrido[3,4-b]indole (Figure 1), are biologically active alkaloids, which are present in several plants and in thermally processed foods [1,2]
In China, there are many kinds of commercial vegetable oil blends containing sesame seed oil, which can be used as cooking oil to meet the requirements of nutrition and flavor
The sesame seed oil blends contained the same content level of harman and norharman, which was suitable to investigate the effect of oil type on the degradation of β-carbolines in oil media during heating
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in Molecules 2021, 26, x published maps and institutional affiliations. Β-carbolines, mainly including 1-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole (harman) and 9Hpyrido[3,4-b]indole (norharman) (Figure 1), are biologically active alkaloids, which are present in several plants and in thermally processed foods [1,2]. Harman and norharman, considered as nonpolar heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs), are produced during the treatment of proteinaceous food at heating temperatures through pyrolysis of proteins or amino acids [3,4]. Many studies have disclosed the direct correlation between enhanced cancer risk and HAAs intake [5,6]. Some reports showed that harman and norharman exhibited neuroactive activity in human body [1,7].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
