Cotton Oil: Useful Product Properties

Cotton butter is produced from cotton using seed pressing or extraction. The content of fats in seeds is small, it rarely exceeds 25%. With the help of pressing, only 16-18% of the product can be pressed. Such a low yield is offset by the fact that cottonseed seeds are a waste of cotton production, they are very cheap.

Cotton oil can be of several varieties, but only a refined product of the first grade is suitable for eating. It has a golden yellow color. According to chemical analyzes, all vegetable oils have similar properties. They have in their composition a large number of fatty unsaturated acids. Cotton product consists of 70-80% of them. Compared to other vegetable oils, this level of content is low.

Fatty unsaturated acids play a very important role in the metabolism process. The human body produces them in very small quantities, so the lack is filled with food. Deficiency of fatty acids can slow the development of the emerging organism and negatively affect the health of adults. This also leads to a violation of the cholesterol metabolism, which threatens with atherosclerosis.

Cotton oil has significant advantages. It contains a large amount of vitamin E, which stimulates fat metabolism and is necessary for the normal functioning of the gonads. Another advantage of this product is a substance that strengthens blood vessels, lowers blood pressure and has a beneficial effect on the nervous system.

Specialists-nutritionists recommend daily in small quantities to consume cottonseed oil. Buy it is not so easy. On the shelves of shops, it is infrequent. This product is more in use in Central Asia. Other fatty oils are much easier to buy. Most cottonseed oil is produced in the USA.

The unrefined product contains such a toxic component as gossypol. The level of its concentration is determined by color. Unrefined oil is a liquid of a reddish-brown color, sometimes black, bitter in taste and with a specific smell.

The properties and composition of cottonseed oil largely depend on the plant variety from which it is produced, and also on the production conditions and the growing area. In the chemical industry, cottonseed oil is used for the production of drying oil. The crude product is used in folk medicine for the treatment of skin diseases and burns.

Not so long ago, scientists have been shown that the substance of gossypol can become one of the main components of medicines for HIV treatment. Studies have shown that gossypol inhibits the development of the virus in the blood.

The process of producing the product is quite simple. Seeds, separated from fluff, are crushed on special rollers, and then heated to 220 ° C in braziers. The heated raw material is placed in bags of wool, shifted by material from horsehair and squeezed under a hydraulic press. Sometimes double pressing is used, first cold, and then hot.