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Have you ever seen lecithin in action? Well, if you want to, then just put a bar of chocolate inside the freezer and wait a few minutes before taking it out again. Carefully study the chocolate bar. Do you see that thin layer of white coating the entire candy bar? That is lecithin in action right in front of you.
A Versatile Nutrient
Lecithin has varied purposes in the commercial sector. It is used as a natural emulsifier and/or lubricant and utilized as an essential ingredient for products ranging from pharmaceuticals to protective coverings. Lecithin is proven powerful not only for these reasons. Lecithin is powerful because it is one of the important nutrients that make up the cell membrane found in the cells of every living organism on earth and plays an important role in normal cell functions.
Lecithin Composition and Functions
In biochemistry, lecithin is often used synonymously with another word, phosphatidylcholine, which is actually one of the three main types of phospholipids found in the phosphatide fraction isolated from either soy beans or egg yolks. On the other hand, the lecithin used by different food manufacturers is a mixture of these phospholipids in oil, 20% to 90% of which is phosphatidylcholine.
One of the many reasons why lecithin is truly powerful is because of the presence of phosphatidylcholine. Lecithin that contains this substance is produced from animal, vegetable and microbial sources, but mainly from vegetable sources, the most important sources of which are soybean, sunflower, and grape seed.
In 1998, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), named lecithin as GRAS, or Generally Regarded as Safe, making it one of the few emulsifiers currently sold in the market. This is because compared with its synthetic alternatives, lecithin can be totally metabolized and biodegraded. Additionally, lecithin is powerful since it is already an integral part of biological membranes, making it virtually non-toxic. Other emulsifiers can only be excreted through the kidneys so they may contain impurities.
Phosphatidylcholine is a mixture of various substituted sn-glycerol-3-phosphatidylcholine backbones. Chemically, its composition is utterly variable and dependent on fatty acid substitution. Another reason that lecithin is powerful is its role in protecting fatty acids from the threats caused by oxidation.
An essential nutrient, fatty acids are extremely vulnerable but greatly needed by the body. They are polyunsaturated fats and are an essential part of each molecule. By keeping these fatty acids from becoming damaged due to oxidation, phosphatidylcholine or lecithin stabilizes them, keeping them away from dangerous substances.
Lecithin is powerful because of its distinct structure. It is both fat loving for the fatty acids (lipophilic) and hydrophobic, meaning it will always be moving away from areas with plenty of water. This tendency of lecithin to move away from watery areas and towards areas with many fats is the reason why lecithin is powerful, especially when it comes to protecting fatty acids. In moving towards the fatty acids and moving away from the watery areas, lecithin molecules form a ring circling the fatty acid molecule that keeps it away from oxidation-causing molecules.
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