Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the shea tree predominantly found in Africa. For the records, the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) when planted doesn't produce shea nuts until after 20 years and it doesn't hit full production until it's 45 years. I have been privileged to see a producing shea tree and that was when I was in the boarding house just outside my dormitory there was a shea tree but then all we did was break open the nut and eat its content.
Once the shea tree begins production of shea nuts it continues to produce for the next 200 years amazing! isn't it? next time you want to consider an investment for generations to come consider planting a shea tree yeah right. In Burkina Faso, shea butter is a commodity owned by the women and it has been nicknamed "women's Gold", it's profits are a main source of income.
Shea butter popularly known as Ori in Nigeria by the Yoruba is one thing that I can really say has been with me all along lol does that sound strange?
Well, I have always used this amazing butter since I was a kid like since I knew myself shea butter has always been around thanks to my parents who for some reasons had so much trust in it lol that is what it seemed like.
As a child, most times when I get injured while playing mom would often resort to shea butter after she has used hot water on the wound hmm... that used to be a lot of pain but then you want to get well soon and play again. Time after time injury after injury shea butter was always available to ensure that my wounds get healed with little or no scar most times.
Its quite strange that even though Shea butter has gained a lot of popularity in African and even in Nigeria here, still most people are still not aware of it's importance to our skin and general well being. I could remember vividly back then at secondary school I was arguably the only kid that brings shea butter to school as it was a boarding house and most times when I bring it out to use other kids are like what is this? I got tired of narrating or trying to explain to different people what exactly Shea butter is. The worst part is, as at then I didn't even know it was shea butter all knew it to be was ori and sometimes my inability to provide proper explanation a times make some other kids tend to think it's some fetish stuffs like that. If I had known then, it would have been easy to tell them it was made from the shea tree just outside the dormitory.
Lately, I noticed that shea butter had gained more popularity here in Nigeria, how do I know this? Well it has now become more like a precious substance, more people selling and advising other to patronize this amazing butter and now you hardly talk about shea butter and the next person isn't using or haven't heard of it, It wasn't like this back in the days.
The truth is, even with the increased adoption of the butter, most people just use it because other people have said it works and it's good for this and that and all of that. Hence the purpose of the post because I believe in accurate knowledge.
Shea butter is mostly popular because of its obvious healing properties on the skin and the fact that it's quite effective in preventing the hair from getting dry due to the harsh weather in Africa amongst other exceptional uses. Note that there are other seed oils out there, but for some reasons which we are going to be looking at briefly the shea butter stands out.
Composition of Shea Butter
Just like other natural seed oils, shea butter is made up of two fractions which are the saponifiable fraction and unsaponifiable fractions. First, before I continue what are saponifiable and unsaponifiable fractions?
The saponifiable fractions of seed oils is that fraction of seed oil that can be converted into soap upon treatment with alkali (saponification). Also referred to as the moisturizing fraction it is the larger fraction of seed oils and is mostly made up of fatty acids.
The unsaponifiable fraction also referred to as healing fraction of a seed oil includes all its components that are barely soluble in aqueous solutions after the process of alkaline hydrolysis (saponification) . Just to make it clearer unsaponifiables or unsaponifiable fraction of a seed oil are the lipid fraction or lipid constituents of the oil which cannot be transformed into soap.
On a general note, most seed oils have less than 2% unsaponifiable fraction, this healing fraction contains most of the healing properties including important nutrients, vitamins, and other valuable phytonutrients but this isn't the case of shea butter as shea butter has an average unsaponifiable content of 8.1% this is exactly what makes the shea butter better than most seed oil
Saponifiable Fraction of Shea Butter
In its saponifiable fraction, shea butter is essentially composed of triglyceride and mainly contains oleic acid (40-60%) and stearic acid (20-60%), It also contains in a smaller percentage, linoleic acid (3-11%), palmitic acid (2-9%), linolenic acid and arachidic acid both less than 1%.
Oleic acid occurs generally in various animal and vegetable fats and oil, it is odourless and mostly colourless except in commercial samples where it may be yellowish. Just like other fatty acids, oleic acid occurs as it esters, commonly triglycerides, which makes the shea butter and other natural oils where it occurs quite oily.
Oleic acid is responsible for the thicker texture which shea butter is known for. The deeply moisturizing property of oleic acid ensures that shea butter helps to hold moisture once it is applied which makes it even more fantastic for people with dry and for those who want to maintain a great level of anti-ageing skin hydration.
As an insect pheromone, oleic acid is emitted by dying insects; it is effectively a death scent. Whenever the scent is detected, insects avoid the area so they don't get hurt. Thus shea butter mixed with Citronella oil makes an amazing insect repellant.
Oleic acid can increase the antimicrobial peptide beta-defensin-2, which can kill acne-causing bacteria.
Being another major component of the shea butter, stearic acid is a waxlike saturated fatty acid with an 18 carbon chain, it's an important component of the stratum corneum lipids see glossary below.
As its ester, stearic acid is very common, it's one of the most common saturated fatty acid occurring naturally.
Did I mention that shea butter is edible? well, I just did, shea butter is quite useful to the body when eaten and this is because it does lower cholesterol levels as well as reduces lipoprotein (LDL). This anti-hypercholesterolemic ability of shea butter is due to its high stearic acid and saponin content.
According to a research carried out by Tholstrup et al 1994 , intake of shea butter which is quite high in stearic acid affects blood lipids and factor VII coagulant activity positively in young men.
Another research carried out by Malachi Oluwaseyi et al 2014 on the effects of shea butter based diet on hepatic and renal enzymes and plasma lipid profile in albino rats showed a significant decrease in HDL, TG, LDL and total cholesterol when rats fed with shea butter were compared with control.
Considering the high percentage of stearic acid in shea butter, when eaten it positively affects cholesterol levels in humans according to these researchers above just to mention a few.
Making up a smaller percentage of the shea butter, unlike oleic and stearic acid, linoleic acid also called omega-6 fatty acid, is one of the two essential fatty acids. They are referred to as essential because they must be supplied by diet as they cannot be synthesized by the body, this goes further to buttress the edibility of shea butter as mentioned earlier. If the body is lacking any of the essential fatty acids, this could cause deficiency symptoms to develop.
Linoleic acid plays a major role in maintaining the epidermal water barrier of the skin. During EFA deficiency, the obvious changes to the skin is a direct reflection of the important role linoleic acid plays in skin health as the skin becomes excessively dry and scaly as well as itchy rash and poor wound healing. Small bumps may also appear on the skin due to a buildup of dead skin around the hair follicles.
Linoleic acid also plays an important role as a precursor of the LCPUFAs that are absorbed into cell membranes as phospholipids and other lipid components, which helps to maintain normal membrane structure, function, and fluidity.
Palmitic acid making up about 2-4% shea butter making it a great emollient. The presence of palmitic acid ensures that shea butter, upon application on the skin retains moisture by an oily layer which goes a long way to reduce the amount of water loss from the skin. This improves the overall moisture content of the skin and prevents dry skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.
Unsaponifiable Fraction of Shea Butter
The shea butter's unsaponifiable fraction essentially composed of triterpene alcohols. The major triterpene alcohols of the shea butter unsaponifiable fraction are the α-amyrin (26.5%), β-amyrin (10.2%), lupeol (21.7%), and butyrospermol (25%). As part of its unsaponifiable fraction shea butter also contains Phenolic compounds and Tocopherol
The triterpene alcohol compounds in the shea butter are responsible for its antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties.
The presence of Lupeol which is a pharmacologically active triterpenoid and has several potential medicinal properties, including antiprotozoal, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor and chemopreventive properties. It is worthy of note that Lupeol is strongly linked with the treatment of cancer, according to recent studies, Lupeol was found to suppress tumour growth and also impair cancer of the head and neck as it targets NFκB signalling. The bioactivities of α-amyrin and β –amyrin when mixed showed antinociceptive effects.
Nociception is a process of response by the sensory nervous system to harmful or potentially harmful stimuli. During nociception, there is stimulation of sensory nerve cells called nociceptors found in the skin, which produces a signal chain of nerve fibres through the spinal cord to the brain. This causes some physiological and behavioural responses which usually results in the subjective experience of pain.
As an antinociceptive, shea butter blocks the detection of a painful or injurious stimulus by the nociceptors and this makes us feel a lot better. I have a hypertrophic scar on my right side of cheek and sometimes it really gets itchy causing a lot of discomfort to me but I noticed that whenever it gets itchy and I apply just a little shea butter to the area in no time I stop feeling any itching and I tend to almost forget it even exist.
The presence of phenolic compounds in shea butter is directly responsible for its antioxidant properties, according to recent research 10 phenolic compounds were found in shea butter and 8 of them are catechins which is a naturally occurring phenol and an antioxidant. The phenolic characteristics of shea butter are likened to that of green tea and its phenolic composition is comparable to that of virgin olive oil. Its worthy of note that this comparison was made using hexane extracted shea butter (hexane extracted shea butter is discussed below).
As part of its unsaponifiable fraction, shea butter contains Tocopherols (TCP). If you’ve ever googled shea butter and its benefit or anything related, you must have come across a lot of articles talking about how shea butter is rich in vitamin E and lots more but how the vitamins occur in shea butter is one information you would hardly see out there but not to worry I would tell you just stay with me.
Vitamin E on a general note exists in eight different forms, four of which are tocopherols which is present in shea butter and the other four tocotrienols. Both tocopherols and tocotrienols occurs in α (alpha), β (beta), γ (gamma) and δ (delta) forms. They all have a chromane ring and a hydroxyl group which is able to reduce free radicals and allows for penetration into biological membranes.
chemical structure of beta-tocopherol (vitamin E beta). image licensed under Wikimedia Public Domain
Tocopherol as food additives are labelled with E numbers as follows: E306 (tocopherol), E307 (α-tocopherol), E308 (γ-tocopherol), and E309 (δ-tocopherol) and they have all been approved in the USA and Australia as well as New Zealand and can be used as antioxidants. The alpha-tocopherol is the preferred form of vitamin E which is absorbed and accumulated in humans. So how those relate to shea butter?
Tocopherol is found in shea butter (α, γ, δ and δ) as mentioned earlier and according to a research by Maranz and Wiseman (2004), alpha-tocopherol (α) is more in shea butter with 64%. Antioxidants such as alpha-tocopherol are highly responsible for reducing the occurrence possibility of degenerative diseases. Note that alpha-tocopherol cannot be synthesized by animal cells so it must be obtained from plants sources through our diet which includes shea butter. Remember I mentioned earlier that shea butter is edible as it can be used as cooking oil and it's usually used to replace cocoa butter in the production of chocolate.
Classification Of Shea Butter Based On Method Of Production
The method deployed in the processing of shea butter has a very great impact on the final product. As a consumer, I am very careful about the kind of shea butter I buy because I understand how the production process affects the end product but it's after all, dependent on what you want as a consumer hence the need to understand the mechanics in shea butter production.
Based on the method of production there are three major methods of processing shea butter and they are
- Raw or Unrefined Shea Butter
- Refined Shea Butter
- Cold Pressed Shea butter
Raw or unrefined shea butter is extracted from the shea nut using the traditional method which is most commonly used here in Nigeria and Africa at large. Many years back when I was still much younger I was privileged to be involved in the production of shea butter when I visited my hometown. My grandmother makes shea butter which she takes to the market to sell on market days amongst other produce.
On that fateful day, my granny had brought back home a lot of shea nut which we opened up with our hands in order to uncover the raw nut which makes up the butter.
Once we were done with that, we took them to a grinding machine close by where the raw nuts were grounded then we brought it back home to granny who had set up the firewood on which she boiled the grounded shea nut until the oil came out. She scooped the oil into small containers and placed them in cold water so it can solidify and the final product was unrefined shea butter with its natural colour, nutty scent and all of its healing properties. That is just the simple method of producing raw shea butter from my personal experience. I really wish I knew I was going to make this post someday maybe I would have taken some picture Oh! I forgot there were no camera phones then lol.
Refined shea butter usually perfumed, white and hard, is produced from the raw product.
During the refining process, shea butter is extracted at very high temperatures. This heating process brings about a state change which makes the refined product to have a long shelf life but on the downside, it eliminates most of the naturally occurring fatty acids and proteins.
Preservatives like sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate are added to also helps to ensure the shea butter lasts longer.
Hexane is also added to remove the nutty fragrance and natural colour making it white.
Despite losing its healing properties, make no mistake, refined shea butter remains an amazing moisturizer which provides a nice occlusive barrier that keeps hydration right where they belong within your skin. Although filler informs of other inferior oils might be added.
Cold pressed shea butter is quite a new method of processing shea butter which is becoming quite popular. The end product of cold-pressed shea butter is a butter lighter in shea scent and colour, still retaining all its nutritional value.
Shea butter being cold-pressed basically means it has not been extracted with the use of any solvent, not even water. Rather the shea nuts are mechanically pressed in an expeller which squeezes the oil directly out of the shea nut without any chemicals or external heat. This process can sometimes cause natural heat to occur as a result of friction from the extraction process.
Conclusion
Having, read this post its no news that the shea butter has a lot of application in the cosmetic industry, for cooking, chocolate production amongst others.
I tried to make it quite simple as I treated its biochemical compositions step by step. This is so that I won't need to start pointing out a million benefits of shea butter like you would see from most online sources but instead having gone through the post you would be able to identify by yourself the benefits and potential benefits of shea butter.
In my opinion, shea butter might become a source of some chemical compounds that would be needed in the treatment of some degenerative diseases. I say this considering its abundance in Africa due to the fact that a fully producing shea tree can continue full production for up to 200 years.
Shea butter has been a source of livelihood for a lot of African women and my grandmother happens to be one of those as I type this post she still manages to sell process shea butter locally and take to the market.
I really hope you enjoyed the read and learnt a thing or two. I know its quite a long one but then I couldn't have served you guys half-baked. Thanks for your time......
For References and Glossary here is a special post I made for that purpose considering the length of this post already but then I know the glossary would come in handy for proper understanding especially for those who ain't really science inclined.
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