spring flowers.

ARGANE OIL.

Compared

with olive oil, almonds, rapeseed, argan oil has the highest concentration of essential fatty acids and linoleic acids in natural association.

Argan oil has a balanced fatty acid composition similar to that of sesame oil. The most common fatty acids are monounsaturated oleic acid (syn. olein acid C18: 1 omega 9) and di-unsaturated linoleic acid (C18: 2 omega 6) with a rate of about 45% and 35 % and the saturated palmitic acid (C16: 0, 12%) and stearic acid (C18: 0, 5%). Glycerides present in argan oil in particular consist of 96% triglycerides, 1.5% diglycerides and free fatty acids and 0.3% of monoglycerides.

In argan oil, the unsaponifiable fraction is about 0.5 to 1.0% and consists mainly of carotenoids (37%), tocopherols (8%), sterols (20%) and triterpene alcohols (20 %), thus containing a remarkable amount of plant secondary compounds biologically active.

Argan oil is rich in squalene (320 mg / liter), low concentration in most other plants.

She has a tocopherol content much higher than olive oil, for example (Argan oil: 620 mg / liter of olive oil: 320 mg / liter). In the past, alpha-tocopherol (75 mg / liter) were considered the form of vitamin E is more active, but recent studies have revealed the biological significance of gamma-tocopherol dominant argan oil (75%). Gamma-tocopherol is an antioxidant much more important and effective than alpha-tocopherol. Its anti-radical is much more powerful.

Physicians and researchers are now focusing their research on sterols of argan oil, including the schotténol (48%) and spinasterol (44%). So far, it knows no other vegetable oil with such a combination of various sterols.

Argan oil contains four simple phenolic compounds such as vanillic acid, ferulic acid, tyrosol and syringic acid in a total concentration of around 4 mg / liter, which almost corresponds to the concentration of simple phenols in the oil olive.