Development and stability study of products containing cupuaçu butter

Abstract

The Amazon region is responsible for much of Brazil’s native fruit biodiversity. In this context, stands out the cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum (Wild. Ex Spreng.) K. Schum.), a fruit tree whose fruit has a seed with high fat content and nutritional value, besides antioxidant and moisturizing activities. The present research aimed to use the cupuaçu butter in the development of shampoo and emulsion formulations, evaluating their stability and the antioxidant activity of the emulsion. The butter was extracted from cupuaçu pulping byproducts by the ultrasound assisted extraction method, and was used to formulate four shampoos (I, II, III and IV) and emulsions containing 3% and 5% of cupuaçu butter. All formulations had their organoleptic characteristics (color, odor and appearance) and physicochemical parameters (pH determination, viscosity, conductivity and centrifugation) analyzed, as well as the evaluation of shampoo density, foam persistence and refractive index and spreadability and potencial antioxidant activity of the emulsion. The stability of the formulations was evaluated by monitoring the organoleptic and physicochemical characteristics by the preliminary and accelerated stability tests. Shampoo formulations I and II showed lower than expected viscosity during the preliminary stability test and were discarded. After accelerated stability, formulation IV had a change in its appearance while formulation III was satisfactory in the other parameters, only presenting a decrease in the viscosity values, allowing the addition of a new thickening agent. Emulsions showed values within the standards in all evaluations and were stable during stability tests. The spreadability of the butter-containing emulsions was higher than the control emulsion, implying that the addition of the butter provides ease of application. Emulsions showed low antioxidant activity as they are produced with processing byproducts, but allowing the addition of smaller amounts of synthetic antioxidants to the formulation. Thus, the use of cupuaçu butter obtained from pulping byproducts has been shown to be applicable in the development of different formulations of commercial interest such as shampoos and emulsions.