Tocopherols in foods and fats

Methods are now available for the determination of all the specific tocopherol forms found in nature. Although the greatest interest centers on alpha‐tocopherol, much information has been gathered on the amounts of individual tocopherols in foods and fats contributing to the human diet. This paper summarizes and discusses the recent literature on the tocopherols in natural, processed and prepared foods. Alpha‐tocopherol, although the most widely distributed, is in many instances not the predominant form. In a number of important tocopherol sources, e.g., soybean oil, much larger amounts of gamma‐tocopherol are found. The levels of tocopherols are variable, but the evidence suggests that the identities of the specific forms are characteristic of the source. In cereal grains the further observation may be made that the related tocol‐tocotrienol pairs tend to be found together. Processing and preparation almost invariably reduce the tocopherol content, sometimes to insignificant levels.