Cocoa Butter

What is cocoa butter?

Cocoa butter, also known as theobroma oil, is extracted from the beans or nibs of Theobroma cacao L., (R, R, R) a tropical fruit tree endemic to the rainforests of South America (R). Commercially, it plays a very important role in the confectionary and chocolate industries (R).

Cocoa butter contains fatty acids, triacylglycerols, tocopherols, tocotrienols and sterenes, but the composition varies due to different geographical growing regions and breeding lines (R). For instance, though the predominant fatty acids in cocoa butter are generally palmitic acid and oleic acid (R), palmitic acid and stearic acid are the main fractions in Venezuelan cocoa butters, which is believed to be responsible for their characteristic hard texture (R, R). Other compounds that have been detected in cocoa butter include steryl esters, theobromine, caffeine, catechin and epicatechin (R, R).

Does cocoa butter get absorbed?

As a vegetable fat, cocoa butter's lipophilicity suggests that it should be able to penetrate the stratum corneum of the skin. In fact, 2 patents have made claims that partially hydrolysed cocoa butter can penetrate epidermal tissue, apparently by increasing its permeability (R, R). Tellingly, cocoa butter or partially hydrolysed cocoa butter emulsion has also been patented for enhancing and controlling the epidermal, dermal and transdermal penetration of various topically applied agents including the retinoids, steroids and vitamin D, supporting this notion (R). Unfortunately, actual permeation data is lacking.