Achuete – most popular natural food color and dye

Achute, Achoite, Anatto (Bixa orellana L) Family Bixaceae.
It is the most commonly used natural food additive and dye.
(Philippine Medicinal Plants)
Achuete – Most popular natural food color

Today's trend in moving away from synthetic to natural food and medicine, as well as articles in everyday life, has focused this small tree to the forefront. The increasing search of products from natural sources that are safe to health and kind to the environment is likely to reveal many sources, among them, Bixa orellana, a native of tropical America. Achuete or achoite is word from the early Mexicans, the Aztecs.

The leaves of achuete are entire and ovate with broad and heart-shaped base, and pointed tip. The flowers are white or pinkish to red borne on terminal panicles. Fruit pods or capsules are ovoid or rounded, reddish brown, and covered with long, slender and soft spines. Each capsule contains viable number of seeds which are covered with a dye-yielding red pulp.

Here are common uses of achuete as color or dye
• Cooking (frog, upo, chicken, adobo)
• Coloring of cheese and margarine, ice cream, pastries
• Cosmetics (lipstick, soap, nail polish, shade)
• Cloth dye
• Body paint
• Wood and handicraft stain
• Floor wax, shoe polish, leather color

Chemical constituents and medicinal value:
• The coloring matter in the seeds is bixin.
• Seed contains a fatty oil with palmitin, a little stearin, and phytosterol.
• Fine powder covering the seed is hemostatic and stomachic.
• Root-bark is antiperiodic and antipyretic.
• Diuretic and purgative.
• Aphrodisiac and detoxifier.
• Seeds are slightly astringent.
• Carotenoid pigments contain bixin, norbixin, ß-carotene, cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin and methyl bixin. (Philippine Medicinal Plants)

Folkloric Uses
• Treatment of minor burns: Boil leaves and cool. Soak the burn area daily for 10 minutes.
• Seed pulp is applied to burns, prevents blistering and scarring. Likewise, ground seeds are boiled and applied on burns.
• Seeds are used as antidote for cassava (Manihot esculenta) and tubang bakod (Jatropha curcas) poisoning.
• Fresh seeds when moistened produce a reddish colored juice that is applied to red rashes.
• Bruised leaves with warm coconut oil is applied on the forehead for headaches.
• Achuete dye with lime is for treatment of erysipelas; also on wounds, and thinning hair.
• In traditional Peruvian medicine, decoction is used to treat heartburn and stomach distress caused by spicy foods; also, as a vaginal antiseptic.
• An infusion of the leaves is used as purgative, regulates heavy menses.
• Poultice of leaves are diuretic. In Guatemala it is used for treatment of gonorrhea.
• Leaves are pounded and applied on snake bites
• Decoction of leaves is remedy for nausea and vomiting.
• In West Indian folk medicine, used for diabetes mellitus.
• Folkloric use as female aphrodisiac in the Amazon.

Studies on Bixa orellana (Philippine Medicinal Plants)

• Antimicrobial / Antifungal: (1) The study screened plants extracts - including Bixa orellana – for antimicrobial activity and MIC. B orellana showed low MIC against against E coli and a better MIC against B cereus. Results showed that Bo, Justicia secunda and Piper pulchrum could be potential sources of new antimicrobial agents. (2) Study of organic extract of BO showed to possess a narrow spectrum of antimicrobial activity, effective only against Gram+ bacteria used in the study.

• Antibacterial / Antioxidant / Antidiarrheal / Neuropharmacolic / Anticonvulsant/ Gastrointestinal Motility Effect: Preliminary pharmacologic studies on the methanol extracts of Bo leaves showed statistical decrease in locomotor activity, anticonvulsant effect, analgesic and antidiarrheal effect and a delay i gastrointestinal motility. It also showed radical scavenging properties and antibacterial activity against agents of diarrhea and dysentery.

• Hypoglycemic / Antidiabetic: (1) Study of Bo oil seed suspension of the red seed coat showed it to be a potent hypoglycemic agent. Extract study showed hypoglycemia in both normal and streptozotocin diabetic dogs. (2) Annatto extract was found to decrease blood glucose in fasting normoglycemic and streptozocin-induced diabetic dogs. The activity was attributed to the stimulation of peripheral utilization of glucose.

• Milk-based pigment: Study showed B.orellana seeds can be used as a pigment in making milk-based paint.

• Anti-Gonorrheal: In a study of 46 plants popularly used in Guatemala for the treatment of gonorrhea, B0 bark was one of the most active plants that inhibited strains of freshly isolated N gonorrhea.

• Antibacterial / Anti-Staphylococcal Activity: Study showed crude ethanolic extracts from leaves of Bo and bark of Alstonia macrophylla showed potential antibacterial effect against S aureus.

• Aldose Reductase Inhibition: Study of hot water extracts of B orellana, C morifolim and I batatas showed potent inhibitory activity towards lens aldose reductase. Phytochemicals yielded isoscutellarein from BO as its potent inhibitor.

NOTE: Achuete offers these, and other related researches, for thesis (undergraduate and masteral) and dissertation (doctoral). A study on its antibiotic properties is among the priorities. Achuete is widely used to color cheese and other products, imparting a desirable taste and aroma, and enhancing shelf life of the products. The search for natural cosmetics places B orellana among the top sources. In agriculture, achuete is a good understory crop of coconut and orchard. It is quite resistant to drought and is mildly deciduous. Its many uses place achuete among the most promising crops.

References and Acknowledgment: Philippine Medicinal Plants, Wikipedia; Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Eduardo Quisumbing; Useful Plants of the Philippines by William H Brown; Plants of the Philippines, UP Diliman; Fauna and Flora of the Philippines Series.