Comparative Study of the Physicochemical Properties of Oils of Sheanut (Vitellaria paradoxa) and Cocoa (Theobroma cacao)

This research work involves a study of the physico-chemical properties, fatty acid composition of oils of sheanut (Vitellaria paradoxa), cocoa (Theobroma cacao) and the effect of roasting on these properties. The data obtained were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) 15 and the means were separated using the New Duncan’s Multiple Range Test.
The physicochemical properties of the extracted oils were quite comparable, with roasting having little or no effect on them. The oils were found to be composed of both saturated (palmitic, stearic, arachidic, behenic, lignoceric fatty acids) and unsaturated (palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic) fatty acids. The study showed that sheanut samples contained higher percentage of linoleic acid, (5.67-6.43%) when compared with linoleic acid content of cocoa samples of 0.01%. Linoleic acid is one of the essential fatty acids required by the human body for various physiological functions. The total saturated fatty acids in the cocoa samples were found to be higher than that found in sheanut samples, while the total unsaturated fatty acids were found to be higher in sheanut samples than in cocoa samples.
The results revealed that sheanut will be a suitable substitute for cocoa in industrial applications.