Lauric acid, systematically dodecanoic acid, is a saturated fatty acid with a 12-carbon atom chain, thus having many properties of medium-chain fatty acids.[ It is a bright white, powdery solid with a faint odor of Pimenta racemosa or soap. The salts and of lauric acid are known as laurates.
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Occurrence
Lauric acid, as a component of , comprises about half of the fatty-acid content in coconut milk, coconut oil, Laurus nobilis, and palm kernel oil (not to be confused with palm oil).[David J. Anneken, Sabine Both, Ralf Christoph, Georg Fieg, Udo Steinberner, Alfred Westfechtel "Fatty Acids" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry 2006, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. ] Oils with high levels of lauric acid are known as lauric oils.
In various plants
Insect
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Black soldier fly Hermetia illucens 30–50 mg/100 mg fat.
Uses
Like many other , lauric acid is inexpensive, has a long shelf-life, is nontoxic, and is safe to handle. It is used mainly for the production of and cosmetics. For these purposes, lauric acid is reacted with sodium hydroxide to give sodium laurate, which is a soap. Most commonly, sodium laurate is obtained by saponification of various oils, such as coconut oil. These precursors give mixtures of sodium laurate and other soaps.
Lauric acid is a precursor to dilauroyl peroxide, a commercial initiator of .[
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Production and reactions
Lauric acid is mainly isolated from natural sources.[ Its reactions are representative of those of similar long chain, saturated fatty acids. It can be converted to the symmetrical fatty ketone called laurone ().]
Nutritional and medical aspects
Although 95% of medium-chain triglycerides are absorbed through the portal vein, only 25–30% of lauric acid is absorbed through it.
Lauric acid increases total serum more than many other fatty acids, but mostly high-density lipoprotein (HDL). As a result, lauric acid has been characterized as having "a more favorable effect on total HDL than any other fatty acid examined, either saturated or unsaturated".[Thijssen, M.A. and R.P. Mensink. (2005). Fatty Acids and Atherosclerotic Risk. In Arnold von Eckardstein (Ed.) Atherosclerosis: Diet and Drugs. Springer. pp. 171–172. .] Nonetheless, an extensive meta-analysis on foods affecting the total LDL/serum lipoprotein ratio found in 2003 that the net effects of lauric acid on coronary artery disease outcomes remained uncertain.[ Effects of dietary fatty acids and carbohydrates on the ratio of serum total to HDL cholesterol and on serum lipids and apolipoproteins: a meta-analysis of 60 controlled trials] A 2016 review of coconut oil (which is nearly half lauric acid) was similarly inconclusive about the effects on cardiovascular disease incidence.
Further reading
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Berner, Louise A. (1993). Defining the Role of Milkfat in Balanced Diets. In John E. Kinsella (Ed.) Advances in Food and Nutrition Research – Volume 37. Academic Press. pp. 159–166. .
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