What is cocoa butter? It is a component of chocolate, has a white/yellow color and melts at a temperature of around 35 degrees centigrade. From where it is extracted Cocoa butter is obtained from p ...

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What is cocoa butter?

It is a component of chocolate, has a white/yellow color and melts at a temperature of around 35 degrees centigrade.

From where it is extracted

Cocoa butter is obtained from processing the cocoa mass.

The processing of cocoa butter requires the use of presses with 400 atmospheres that compress and heat the cocoa mass in order to obtain about 50% of fat called cocoa butter.

What is it for?

It is used in the food sector:

• As an ingredient in baked goods, chocolate, fries.
• To keep cooked food crispy.

• Lip sticks, lipsticks, draining for cellulite and edema.

There is also cocoa butter oil used in cosmetics against skin aging.

Cocoa butter is the major ingredient of the chocolate industry. It is one of the unic natural fats required by the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

How it is composed

Stearic acid (C18: 0), palmitic acid (C16: 0), oleic acid (C18: 1) and linoleic acid (C18: 2) account for more than 98% of total fatty acids in cocoa butter (1).

Safety

Contrary to other long chain saturated fatty acids (SFA), fats high in stearic acid do not raise plasma cholesterol concentrations, however, a slight elevation in inflammatory markers, plasma fibrinogen and interleukin-6 (IL-6), has been observed in the fasting state. The effect of stearic acid on inflammation in the postprandial state has not yet been reported. We conducted a single blind crossover, randomized, postprandial study to compare the effects of a fat load of cocoa butter high in stearic acid and olive oil in ten healthy women. The test meals contained 1 g of fat per kg body weight (mean 62 g). Blood samples were collected at 0 (fasting), 4 and 6 h. Both diets resulted in a significant increase in serum triacylglycerol (TAG) concentration over time (P = 0.003) and a decrease in serum IL-6 concentration after 4 h followed by an increase to post absorptive values after 6 h (P < 0.001); whereas serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentration was not affected. There was no difference between diets in effects on serum TAG, hsCRP and IL-6 concentrations and no association between postprandial lipemia and inflammatory markers. High intake of dietary fats increase postprandial serum TAG, however, may not affect inflammatory markers postprandially. Thus, fat rich in stearic acid does not seem to increase postprandial inflammation.

Differences between various cocoa butters

In a multi-component chocolate product, oil migration, from high oil content filling into chocolate, is one of the major contributors to the product quality loss. Among various parameters influencing oil diffusivity, cocoa butter is studied intensively. Studies have shown that the rate of oil transportion in cocoa butter is affected by its composition, the way that it is crystallized, and also the storage conditions. To model and study effects of cocoa butter type and processing conditions on oil migration, five different cocoa butter samples were studied in this work. Samples' chemical compositions in addition to their structural properties were analyzed to understand and compare oil migrations in the networks. Crystallized cocoa butter samples were placed in contact with a cream as a source of liquid oil. Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, the movement of liquid oil into samples was investigated. The effects of minor differences in the cocoa butter chemical compositions on oil migrations rate are shown clearly. The highest effective diffusion coefficient was observed in the sample with the higher unsaturated fatty acids and phospholipids content. Although shearing at 250s^-1 delayed oil migration in all the samples and a significantly lower diffusion coefficient was observed in the dynamic samples, the effects of chemical composition were still dominant. This study successfully highlighted that even minor differences in cocoa butter composition affect the network mass transfer phenomenon dramatically and that it is not easy to diminish these possessions by just crystallization processes (3).

Cocoa butter composition

Cocoa butter studies

References_______________________

(1) Mangifera sylvatica (Wild Mango): A new cocoa butter alternative

Sayma Akhter, Morag A. McDonald and Ray Marriott

Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 32050.

Published online 2016 Aug 24. doi: 10.1038/srep32050

(2) Dietary cocoa butter or refined olive oil does not alter postprandial hsCRP and IL-6 concentrations in healthy women

Tholstrup T, Teng KT, Raff M.

(3) Effects of cocoa butter triacylglycerides and minor compounds on oil migration.

Wang H, Maleky F.

Food Res Int. 2018 Apr;106:213-224. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2017.12.057. Epub 2017 Dec 27.

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