Evaluation of geranylgeraniol content in different varieties of annatto (Bixa orellanna, L.). Geranylgeraniol separation and extraction from annatto seeds

Abstract

Annatto seeds are extremely important to food industry because they contain carotenoid bixin, which is very used as a natural coloring. However, such seeds have been standing out because their aril contains other substances such as tocopherol, tocotrienols and geranylgeraniol that are also important to human health. Soon such components may explain a great part of the pharmacological properties usually ascribed to annatto as anti-inflammatory, expectorant, febrifugal, cicatrizant, insect repellent, etc. Currently geranylgeraniol is an important drug used to fight several types of cancer and it is also a significant intermediate for the synthesis of drugs like vitamin K, vitamin E and many types of hormones. It is also known that annatto seeds have about 5% of grease, which contains approximately 20% of geranylgeraniol. On the other hand, we do not know what effects different annatto varieties may have on the content of such substance in its seeds and we know just a little about how to extract and separate such substance from the other components. This project, in the first stage, aims at evaluating the content of geranylgeraniol in annatto seeds of different varieties that form the collection of Pólo Regional Centro Norte, of Agência Paulista de Tecnologia do Agronegócio [Agribusiness Technology Agency of the State of São Paulo], in Pindorama, SP e, in the second stage, it aims at establishing a technology to separate and extract geranylgeraniol from annatto seeds. (AU)