Many of us in Europe are probably not familiar with Njangsa (Ricinodendron heudelotii) but it is a commercially important crop of West Africa. Seed oil is its most important offering and in Cameroon alone is probably worth $5 million dollars annually. It is mainly used as a cooking oil but it has some significant health benefits which make it compete with avocado and almond oil for example. Frankly, it is not widely regarded yet!

The plant is semi-deciduous and grows in all coastal regions of West Africa down to Equatorial Guinea and Uganda (Plenderleith, 1997).

What really surprises analysts is the extremely high level of polyunsaturated fatty acid content (about 75%) (Manga et al., 2000; Assanvo et al., 2015). Perhaps most intriguing is the presence of alpha-eleostearic acid (α-ESA) which is a conjugated linolenic acid (CLnA) isomer in the highest amount.

The conjugated linolenic acid (CLnA) isomer has some part to play in improving cardiovascular heart health and it also counters the toxicity of heavy metals which promote radical formation (Leudeu et al., 2009; Saha et al., 2012). It may even inhibit some cancers but then all oils might have some activity in this regards (Hennessy et al., 2011).

References

Assanvo, E.F., Gogoi, P., Dolui, S., Baruah, S.D. (2015) Synthesis, characterization, and performance characteristics of alkyl resins based on Ricionodendron heudelotii oil and their blending with epoxy resins. Ind. Crop Prod. 65 pp. 293–302.

Leudeu, B.C.T., Tchiégang, C., Barbé, F., Nicolas, B., Guéant, J.-L. (2009) Ricinodendron heudelotti (Bail) or Tetracarpidium conophorum Müll oils fed to male rats lower blood lipids. Nutr. Res. 29 pp. 503–09.

Manga TT, Fondoun JM, Kengue J, Thiengang C. 2000. Chemical composition of Ricinodendron heudelotii: an indigenous fruit tree in southern Cameroon. Afr Crop Sci J 8(2):195–201

Mbosso, C., Degrande, A., Tabougue, P., Franzel, S., Van Noordwijk, M., Van Damme, P., Tchoundjeu, Z., Foundjem-Tita, D. (2013) Afr. J. Agric. Res. 8(46) pp. 5741–51

Plenderleith, K. (1997) Ricinodendron heudelotii, a state of knowledge study undertaken for the central African regional program for the environment. Oxford Forestry Institute, UK.

Saha, S.S., Dasgupta, P., Sengupta, S., Ghosh, M. (2012) Synergistic effect of conjugated linolenic acid isomers against induced oxidative stress, inflammation and erythrocyte membrane disintegrity in rat model. Biochim. Biophys Acta 1820 pp. 1951–70.