Some observations on the effect of moisture on the quantitative extraction of lipids from soybeans

Data are presented to show the effect of moisture on the quantitative determination of lipids in soybean samples which were pretreated by: (1) Conditioning to a range of moisture contents, (2) by heating in the presence of 60-40 percent mixture of benzene and methyl alcohol, and (3) by heat-denaturation of the protein in the sample in the presence of water vapor. The wide variation in results for lipid content indicates that the lipids removed cannot be considered as either triglycerides alone, or total lipids, but an empirical value given by a rigidly controlled procedure. It is apparent that methods are needed to determine the triglycerides and the total lipid content of soybeans and soybean meal.