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Coconut Allergy and Coco Caprylate/Caprate
Coconut oil is rated very high in
salicylates, but would that also apply to ingredients comprised of coconut
alcohol, like Coco Caprylate/Caprate?I am highly sensitive to salicylates
(vertigo/anaphylaxis) and would prefer not to test this on myself!Thanks for any insight.
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8 Replies
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This is a good question. I think it depends on how the ingredients are made but if they start with fractionated coconut oil, I think that would eliminate the salicylates during the synthesis. But I’m not 100% certain. Perhaps someone else who better knows the synthesis process to make coco caprylate/caprate will weigh in.
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Thanks, Perry. Interestingly, MCT also triggers my salicylate sensitivity, but pure C8 does not. So I guess I would need to contact the supplier to see what they start with.
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Can you explain what does “Coconut oil is rated very high in salicylates” mean?
I what to know too.
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Google is a great resource. When you search for “coconut oil + salicylates” you’ll find a lot of information. To get you started, here is the first page in the SERPs:
Hope this helps.
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@LaurieMoser - In considering this further, I haven’t been able to find any good evidence that Coconut Oil contains any Salicylates. Perhaps the entire coconut might contain them but I don’t think the oil does.
Here is the best chemical breakdown of the composition of coconut oil that I could find.
None of the components listed are salicylates. And since Salicylates are water soluble (not oil soluble) this would make sense.
While Google is helpful for some things there is also a lot of misinformation posted on the Internet. The Paleoskincare website should not be looked at as a definitive source. They make the claim that coconut is high in salicylates (and maybe it is) but they provide no sources that would support that claim. None of the other websites that come up on the first page SERPs for “coconut oil + salicylates” are reliable, science sources either.
I did a Google Scholar search (this searches through peer reviewed, scientific literature) of “coconut oil composition salicylate” and didn’t find anything.
The good news is that it’s unlikely that ingredients comprised of coconut oil, like Coco Caprylate/Caprate represent a salicylate risk to you.
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Perry, thank you so much for your
research efforts. Finding accurate information about salicylates is practically
impossible. I know…I’ve been doing exhaustive searches for over two years!So I now simply follow the guidelines
from my three doctors: Functional Medicine, Allergist/Immunologist, and Mast Cell
Activation specialist. All three say coconut oil (and olive oil) are VERY high in
salicylates. Plus, there’s no mistaking how bad my vertigo gets after using any
personal care products containing coconut oil…even a little lip balm.But that still leaves my original question. Let’s
assume coconut oil does contain salicylates. Would that also apply
to ingredients comprised of coconut alcohol, like Coco Caprylate/Caprate?
As you suggested earlier, might the salicylates be eliminated during synthesis from
coconut oil to fatty alcohols? -
@LaurieMoser - the process of creating these chemicals involves a fractionation process. The way that this works is you take coconut oil and you heat it above its melting point to make it a liquid.
Now, coconut oil is made up of a variety of different chemicals, mostly the fatty acids, caprylic acid C -8:0 (8%), capric acid, C-10:0,(7%), lauric acid C-12:0, (49%), myristic acid C-14:0(8%), palmitic acid C-16:0 (8%), stearic acid C-18:0 (2%), oleic acid C-18:1 (6%) and 2% of C-18:2 linoleic acid.
Each of these have a different melting point. So, as the system cools, you remove the solids that are formed. Then you’re left with things that are liquid at a lower temperature like Capric acid and Caprylic acid.
To make Coco Caprylate/Caprate, you then take that liquid and chemically react it further to make whatever derivative you want.
But the question is, are there any salicylates left in the liquid after the fractionation process?
The main salicylates include Sodium Salicylate and Salicylic Acid. Both of these have melting points > 200C. So, most likely they are some of the first solids that are removed from the system. It’s unlikely any of them would be present in the final material.
Having said that, it also depends on how thoroughly the company does the fractionation process.
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@LaurieMoser Unfortunately, the internet is in its vast majority, full of very inaccurate and wrong information. I wouldn’t trust a site like the one you mentioned (Paleo Skincare).
I actually found the type of information regulatory organizations review to evaluate the safety of a cosmetic ingredient: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1091581811400636. You’ll find the following statement regarding sensitization:
“Coconut oil was not an allergen at 100% concentration in
12 participants in a double-blind randomized controlled pilot
study.”Chemicals derived from coconut oil might be allergenic, not because of the oil but because of by-products or remainings of some reactant (for example, CAPB is found to be allergenic due to the presence of traces of amidoamines used as reactants).
I searched in few cromatographic journals, and haven’t found the presence of SA in Coconut oil. Just as a reference, I found this in a book called “Fats and oils: Formulating and Processing for Applications”:
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