Extraction of non-starch lipid from protease-treated wheat flour

BACKGROUND: Lipids account for 2.0-2.5% of wheat flour by dry weight and affect properties and quality of cereal foods. A new method was developed to extract non-starch lipids from wheat flour. Wheat flour was first hydrolyzed with a protease and followed by extraction of non-starch lipids by water-saturated butanol (WSB).

RESULT: Protein hydrolysis by protease followed by extraction of non-starch lipids with WSB increased yield to 1.9 ± 0.3% from 1.0 ± 0.1% with no protease treatment. The lipid profile showed a significant increase in phospholipid compounds extracted with protease hydrolysis (5.9 ± 0.8 nmol·g-1 ) versus without enzymatic treatment (2.4 ± 1.3 nmol g-1 ).

CONCLUSION: Improved lipid extraction yield and phospholipid compounds following protease-assisted extraction method provided additional insight towards the understanding of protein-lipid interaction in wheat flour. The new protease-assisted extraction method may be applied to analyzing non-starch lipids in other types of wheat flours and other cereal flours. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.