OAT LIPIDS - INTERACTION WITH WATER AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AQUEOUS PHASES

The physical properties of oat lipids have been investigated in order to understand their functional significance during processing. This work concerns one oat variety with a high lipid content and another with low content. The lipids were characterized chemically, and phase equilibria with water were studied by supercritical carbon dioxide fractionation into polar and non-polar components. Structures of the phases were identified by X-ray diffraction. The lamellar liquid-crystalline phase has a dominating existence range in the phase diagrams, and in this respect oat lipids are different than other cereal lipids.