Vitamin E or alpha- tocopherol in coconut testa/coconut paring oil

[Guest guest]

Hi folks !

Apparently, there has been inconsistencies in the information about

the presence of Vitamin E ( known to be a powerful anti-oxidant, for

muscle development, making red blood cells resistant to haemolysis or

breakdown, normal reproductive function in both sexes, among many

others) in the saturated medium chain fatty acid-rich coconut oil

(CNO), either as in the now known virgin coconut oil (VCO) or refined

(RBD form. While, a study (Manalac,1970 mentioned by Banzon and

Velasco (1982) decades ago reported that unrefined CNO contains 700 -

900 mg tocopherol/g oil,in alkali-refined CNO reduced to 300 mg/g oil

and further steam-deodorized to only 55 mg/g oil. From a natural

state to a refined form, a strong tendency to reduce the content of

the inherent vitamins of the matter due to various processing factors.

Now, however, a recent intensive (published) study (Laureles and co-

workers, 2002, J. Agric. Food Chem. 50: 1581-1586) comparing RBD, VCO

oils from various processe and varieties of coconut, coconut milk and

coconut testa ( the outer brownish layer or portion of the coconut

meat/kernel found between the meat and the shell of the matured nut

revealed that only the testa contains Vitamin E at 732 microgram/g

oil (detected by a modern HPLC equipment). This workers surmised

that the ealier work of Manalac used testa-rich CNO samples and not

limited to the whitish coconut meat, usually used for coconut

oil/milk production.

One of the implications of this new knowledge points out that VCO,

even natural and unaltered by high heat may not supply any Vitamin E

at all, unless, it includes the testa (as in the coconut paring oil

from dessicated coconut plants). In other applications as filled

milk for infants and the like, I understand, the CNO from coconut

parings has a much different fatty acid profile than CNO. This paring

oil(extrated from dried testa and portion of white meat) is rich in

polyunsaturated fatty acids as oleic (C18:1) and linoleic (C18:2)

compared to CNO but could provide vitamin E.

It may be of interest to present ( next posting), the composition of

CNO and testa-rich paring oil (a by-product from dessicated coconut

manufacturing). This explains why coconut paring oil is used in

filled milk formulations and other applications. I'm not in the

pharmaceutical or nutriceutical industries, but probably some of the

participant of this forum know more about the applications of refined

CNO, VCO and coconut paring oil in these industries.

Hoping this topic interests you.

Cheers,

Sev Magat