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The cacao ( Theobroma cacao L) is a small tree native from the Amazon Basin , widely spread through the Americas . Records of its consumption date since the most ancient Mayan and Aztecan civilizations.
The cocoa butter is the addible fat of the cacao seeds. The cocoa butter is an important byproduct due to its chemical composition and physic properties. This butter is composed of a combination of palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid, which provide unique properties when compared to any other vegetal butter, since it is highly stable and has soft texture, besides being rich in anti-oxidant substances. These properties draw the attention of the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries to use it as raw material.
Besides being an essential ingredient to prepare chocolate, the cacao butter is widely used for cosmetic and dermatological formulas. The cacao butter has emollient end moisturizing properties, that is to say, that it recovers the tissue oiliness resulting from the excess of cold or sun exposure dryness. Being an excellent moisturizer, it is easily absorbed by the skin and reaches its deepest layers, rendering a softer skin. Moreover, it has the property of regenerating the capillary fiber, leaving it more soft and malleable. Thus, the cacao butter is used to prepare moisturizing creams and lotions, besides soaps as shampoos and toilet soaps. In the pharmaceutical industry, the cocoa butter is an essential vehicle to manufacture ovules and suppositories.
The cacao butter is used for topic applications such as burns, lip dryness, breast cuts due to breastfeeding, hemorrhoids, analgesic ointments, the scar formation process, any kind of skin injury and home-made preparations to diminish the color of skin stains. Due to its moisturizing and emollient properties the above uses are justified, however, there are still no scientific researches which have demonstrated its anti inflammatory, analgesic or antioxidant stress properties of the cacao butter.
Besides being rich in polyphenols, that are natural pigments with antioxidant properties, the cacao butter also prevents cellular aging, eliminating free radicals formed in the natural process of aging, thus being appropriate in formulas for such purpose.
Until now, no toxicity has been found in the cacao butter in any food, pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations.
Suggested concentrations:
Cream lotion: 0,5 to 0,8%
Shampoo: 0,10%
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