Shea Oil (Shea Butter)

Shea Oil (Shea Butter): Nutrition and Information

Shea butter — also sold as shea oil, sheanut oil, or shea fat — is extracted from the nuts of the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa), native to the semi-arid savanna belt of sub-Saharan Africa stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia. Shea butter is a critical food ingredient across West and Central Africa — it is the primary cooking fat in many regions of Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, and neighbouring countries, where it is used for frying, as a flavouring, and as a spread. It is also one of the most important natural moisturisers in the global cosmetics and personal care industry, used in skin creams, hair products, and cosmetics worldwide. The food-grade (edible) form is distinct from cosmetic-grade, and the traditional hand-processing methods used in West African communities produce an unrefined shea butter with a distinctive nutty, slightly smoky flavour quite different from the refined white product used in cosmetics.

Nutritional Value and Uses

Shea oil provides 884 kcal and 100 g of fat per 100 g, with 46.6 g of saturated fat — predominantly stearic acid (approximately 40%) and oleic acid (approximately 45% monounsaturated). The high stearic acid content is nutritionally interesting: stearic acid (C18:0) is a saturated fat that does not raise LDL cholesterol — it is neutral in its cholesterol effect, unlike palmitic acid. This makes shea's saturated fat profile less adverse than its saturated fat quantity alone suggests. Shea butter is solid at room temperature and melts smoothly at body temperature, producing a characteristic clean melt — a property exploited in confectionery as a cocoa butter equivalent. Use in West African cooking for frying and flavouring, and in confectionery as a cocoa butter equivalent.