EFA Quality and You

It is important to understand EFA quality and the source of your essential fatty acids. The bottom line of large business is the dollar. Not your health. I am here to tell you that EFA quality is even more important than just consuming foods with essential fatty acids. You will come to learn how large business manufacturers refine, remove vital nutrients, and ultimately harm the oil.

The oil is derived from a seed... or in our case a fruit. What happens from here will only destroy the precious nutrients within. The first step in creating oil for consumption is pressing the seed. Pressing uses using different mediums. The first and safest is done using a hydraulic press. When done using proper procedure and controlling light and air exposure, the oil will remain in its most beneficial form. Unfortunately, using a batch press is slow and impacts the bottom line. The dollar.

Large businesses use something called an expeller which is basically a large metal corkscrew. The seeds are pushed through the chamber by the corkscrew and ejected through the presshead. Here's the rub: since large companies want to extract the most oil from the seed cake, the presshead is usually small creating more pressure and heat within the device. This harms the oil. Moreover, the seeds are cooked so the shell is easier to remove. For the consumer and health conscious, this is only the beginning! Remember, air and light spoil the oil; heat acts as a catalyst and introducing more heat will speed up the harmful process that degrades EFA quality.

The oil will then go through a process known as degumming. This will remove most if not all of the beneficial ingredients that were part of the oil such as phospholipids and lecithin. This process also removes true gums which is a form a fiber, chlorophyll, calcium, magnesium, copper, and iron. The temperature at which this takes place is about 60 degrees Celsius or 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The EFA quality goes down with each step. Some steps more than others.

If that weren't enough, another process called refining takes place. Refining is done with a corrosive base called sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or another name for this is Drano. A reaction takes place with the NaOH and the free essential fatty acids to form a soap which is then removed from the oil. Other items removed using this process include more phospholipids, protein substances and trace minerals.

The oil is getting closer to the shelf for consumption, but it's not quite there yet. It still needs to go through some further refinement and these next few steps are where it gets really nasty.

Bleaching occurs at 110 degrees Celsius or 230 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 30 minutes. At this temperature some of the funny fats are formed from the remaining EFA's that are still present. This process happens when a double bond shift occurs within the molecule. Nature did not intend for this molecular structure and the change will cause the altered fat to be unusable by the human body. The purpose of bleaching is to remove the pigments that give the oil its natural color. More chlorophyll and beta carotene are removed by using filters and acid treated activated clays. Dangerous peroxides are also formed within this mixture.

Deodorizing is the most destructive step taken. This process is done at 240-270 degrees Celsius or 464-518 degrees Fahrenheit! If you thought the previous steps were bad for your health, imagine heating the most delicate and volatile molecules at this temperature. In the simplest terms, deodorization is necessary to remove all the side products that the previous steps created. Aromatic oils, the remaining few fatty acids, and molecules that give a pungent or undesirable flavor to the oil are distilled and removed from the oil.

At this point, the oil is useless to the body; trans fatty acids have formed, antioxidants are missing, chemicals have been introduced, and we are left with an unnatural and refined substance with a long shelf life.

Fortunately, bringing the acai berry to market involves significantly less. The berry, like most other products or juices on the market, is gently flash pasteurized to remove potentially harmful bacteria. This step is important for importing international fruits and/or vegetables because of the different environment in which it grows. The acai essential fatty acids remain intact and EFA quality remains high.

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