Fatty acid powder usually refers to mixed fatty acids extracted from natural plants and animals, and is a nutritional enhancer. From the appearance, common fatty acid powder is mostly white or light yellow solid, in powder form. It is insoluble in water, but easily soluble in heat, and has the general chemical properties of carboxylic acids.
Fatty acid powder has a rich source. For example, extracted from plants, saw palmetto is a palm tree that grows in the southeastern United States, and its fruit contains plant active ingredients, namely fatty acids. Saw palmetto extract fatty acid powder has specific specifications, such as 45% and 25% fatty acids. Pumpkin seeds can also extract fatty acid powder, and there are products with different specifications and contents such as 25% and 45% available on the market. From the perspective of animal fats, fatty acid powder can also be obtained through processes such as hydrolysis, distillation and refining.
In terms of preparation methods, taking sucrose fatty acid ester powder as an example, it can be prepared by reacting sucrose with fatty acid alkyl ester in an aqueous reaction system in the presence of a catalyst, followed by a series of complex operations, such as dissolving with water, adjusting pH, adding salt for precipitation, separation and washing, ultrafiltration, spray drying and other steps. This method can obtain purified sucrose fatty acid esters without using organic solvents, and can also recover sucrose at a high yield.
Fatty acid powder is widely used. In the food field, as a nutritional enhancer, it can supplement the fatty acids needed by the human body. For example, in some functional foods, adding fatty acid powder rich in specific fatty acids helps maintain the body’s cholesterol level, regulate triglycerides, and has a certain preventive and protective effect on cardiovascular diseases. In the health care product industry, fatty acid powder is also added to many products, such as saw palmetto extract fatty acid powder, which many men will take, hoping that it can treat benign prostatic hyperplasia. At the same time, it is also advertised that it has the effects of increasing sperm count, improving sexual ability, and anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer. Fatty acid powder also plays a role in pharmaceutical production. However, due to its different sources and processing methods, there may be some impurities and safety hazards, so its use in pharmaceuticals has strict regulations and testing procedures.
