Free from peanut oil
Peanut allergy - symptoms
If a peanut allergy first appears in adolescence or adulthood, it is usually a so-called secondary allergy or cross-allergy. When the body reacts, another allergen is often responsible for the immune reaction (e.g.: Proteins in birch trees or grass pollen are very similar to peanuts, so the body reacts to them in the same way).
Typical symptoms are
- Itching and swelling of mucous membranes (in the mouth and throat)
- Itching, swelling and redness of the skin
- Hives
- Abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea
- Allergic rhinitis and/or asthmatic symptoms.
To get a diagnosis, it is advisable to go to a doctor who can determine an allergy with the help of blood, prick and provocation tests.
Peanut oil is the vegetable oil pressed from the seeds of the peanut (Arachis hypogaea).
Extraction
After harvesting, the peanuts must be dried for about two to four weeks so that the water content is reduced from about 40 % to only about 7 to 5 %. Then the peanuts, which now have a fat content of about 45 %, are freed from their shells. This is usually done with the help of disc mills or fluted rollers. To extract the oil from the seeds, they must be cleaned in sieves, crushed on roller mills and cold-pressed in screw presses. If the remaining oil, which would otherwise remain in the press cake, should also be extracted, it is extracted with n-hexane. The n-hexane is then distilled off from the extract, leaving a residue of peanut oil of inferior quality compared to the oil obtained by cold pressing
Basically, a distinction must be made between different qualities. The cold-pressed quality is considered the most natural and has the most intense taste. Most of the peanut oil on the market is refined to obtain a defined, uniform quality. This also removes disturbing accompanying substances (e.g. aflatoxins) and environmental contaminants (e.g. heavy metals, pesticides) that are undesirable during use and further processing.
In the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.), refined peanut oil (Arachidis oleum raffinatum) is monographed. The monograph specifies the quality/purity that must be maintained in order to use the oil in pharmaceutical preparations. For example, the fatty acid composition of the triglycerides, the proportion of unsaponifiables or fatty acids are specified. Pharmacopoeia quality is also used in many other areas such as the cosmetics or food industry.
Pharmacy and medicine
In the field of medicine and pharmacy, peanut oil has many uses. For example, it can be used as an enema to soften hard faeces in the rectum or to lower cholesterol levels due to its content of unsaturated fatty acids in the triacylglycerides. In pharmaceutical technology, it serves as a carrier for fat-soluble active substances for external, enteral or parenteral use, especially for sex hormones with a depot effect and as an oil for eye drops. In dermatology, peanut oil is considered helpful against crusts and skin flakes in the area of the head. However, it can also be used for infant care and as a bath additive for the treatment of subacute, chronic eczema as well as atopic eczema and ichthyosis. In addition, hardened peanut oil is used as an ointment base because of its good water absorption capacity. In the past, it was a common ingredient in old recipes such as camphor ointment (an ointment that is supposed to help with muscle, joint and rheumatic pains or with colds and flu because it stimulates circulation and has an analgesic effect, and is also often found in nasal ointments or cold balms). Today, however, this oil is used less and less for the production of medicines, as it still becomes rancid despite partial hydrogenation of the double bonds in the fatty acid portion of the tricylglycerides.
Further information: Wikipedia "Peanut oil"