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Capsaicin and Capsicum
I am working on a project for a customer that wants to duplicate a product that contains 0.002% Capsaicin. Because of the strong potency, I want to use capsicum instead but not sure what the ratio should be to get the same effect or what a safe level of use is. I know that’s not much information but if anyone has worked with this before and could offer some insight that would be great! Thanks
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6 Replies
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Use a standardised capsicum extract. That’s what we use in the pharmacy for capsaicin creams (though we commonly use 0.025-0.075%).
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What is the capsaicin supposed to be doing in the product?
How would a consumer tell that it was doing it? -
There is no point using capsicum extract unless you have an assayed level of capsaicin in it - and even then you would need to calculate the amount of capsicum to use. For example if the capsicum is 0.1% capsaicin you would need to use 2 g to get the claimable levels.
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Herbnerd said:…to calculate the amount of capsicum to use…Just to make sure: Capsicum = chili peppers = highly varying amounts of capsaicin between pods even from the same plant and also varying concentrations within different portions of a single pod.“Normal” commercial capsicum extract = hot sauce = roughly estimated levels of capsaicin based on published Scoville units of the used chili variety (if the maths has been done correctly, which isn’t always the case) = absolutely not reliable or useful unless a deviation of factor >10 is okay.Pharmacopoeia and other standardised capsicum/chili extracts are commercially available and calculating the required amount is a cakewalk.
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Pharma said:Herbnerd said:…to calculate the amount of capsicum to use…Just to make sure: Capsicum = chili peppers = highly varying amounts of capsaicin between pods even from the same plant and also varying concentrations within different portions of a single pod.
Yep - this is why I suggested using an assayed level of capsaicin because of the wild variations in capsicum - from nothing in bell peppers to very high, but very variable amounts of capsaicin in capsicums such as naga or reapers.
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Perry said:What is the capsaicin supposed to be doing in the product?
How would a consumer tell that it was doing it?Used in analgesic product. Very strong skin/eyes/ lung irritant. Raw material should be handled very carefully.
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