Amaranth Seed Oil
INCI Amaranthus Cruentus Seed Oil. Also: Amaranth oil, Amaranthus cruentus seed oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | not published |
| Iodine value | 120–140 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | — |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
A bar made of 100 % Amaranth Seed Oil
The soap qualities are derived from the fatty-acid profile, which is below. They are shown here only for records the calculator can use.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 15–21.2 | 18.1 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 2.5–5.5 | 4.0 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 15.5–22.5 | 19.0 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 42–65 | 53.5 |
Where these numbers come from
The specification is 'ijms-2787783-File S1.pdf' inside ijms-25-00925-s001.zip in the Europe PMC supplementary archive; the article itself is at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10815470/. The sheet carries no issue date; the date given is the article's.
Section 3 (materials): lot description, palmitic 17.5-19.2, oleic 17.5-20.5, linoleic 52-55, stearic 4.5-5.5 %, squalene 6-8 %.
Quoted in notes for comparison only.
Every field is the producer's own product specification, 'Cosmetic Amaranth Oil', specification SP-10/OL of Szarlat M. i W. Lenkiewicz (Zawady, Poland): unrefined oil cold-pressed from Amaranthus cruentus seed, INCI printed as 'Amaranthus cruentus seed oil'. Fatty acids: palmitic 15.0-21.2, stearic 2.5-5.5, oleic 15.5-22.5, linoleic 42.0-65.0 %; squalene 4.0-8.0 %; iodine value 120-140 g I2/100 g; acid value max 5.0 mg KOH/g; peroxide value max 10.0 meq O2/kg; density 0.92 g/cm3; 'crystallization below 17 C is a natural phenomenon'. The sheet is published as Supplementary File S1 of Wolosik et al. 2024 (Int. J. Mol. Sci. 25(2):925), which tested this oil, and was read in the PDF obtained through Europe PMC's supplementary-files service. The paper's text describes the oil it tested more narrowly: palmitic 17.5-19.2, oleic 17.5-20.5, linoleic 52-55, stearic 4.5-5.5 %, squalene 6-8 %, vitamin E 8-10 mg/100 g. SQUALENE IS WHAT MAKES THIS OIL DIFFERENT, and it matters for lye: squalene is a hydrocarbon, part of the unsaponifiable matter, and at 4-8 % of the oil it consumes no lye and stays in the bar. The specification gives no unsaponifiable-matter figure, so that field is null rather than set from the squalene alone. THE PROFILE REACHES ONLY 94.6 % at the band midpoints: these four acids are all the specification lists, and the minor acids other analyses report (alpha-linolenic, arachidic, behenic, palmitoleic, together 2-4 %) are not in it. That leaves the record just under the 95 % floor the build needs to derive a saponification value, so it ships as reference only; no allowed document opened here prints a saponification value for amaranth oil. OTHER A. cruentus OILS ARE MORE OLEIC: PlantFAdb tabulates Dubois et al. 2007 ('Fatty acid profiles of 80 vegetable oils with regard to their nutritional potential', #21302) at palmitic 21.3, oleic 32.3 (31.1 plus 1.2 cis-vaccenic), linoleic 40.2 %, and a 2000 accession survey (#14351) at palmitic 22.2, oleic 30.1, linoleic 42.2 % - outside this specification's oleic band, so a certificate for the lot is worth asking for. FOR SOAP: a linoleic oil about a fifth saturated, soft and conditioning; the squalene adds a skin-conditioning unsaponifiable to the finished bar. INCI 'Amaranthus Cruentus Seed Oil' is an active CosIng entry without CAS or EC numbers.
This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL). Found an error or a better primary source? The dataset is on GitHub; corrections with a document link are welcome.