Worried by blocked nose, pimples? Try shea butter

Western countries are just beginning to
recognise the considerable health and
beauty benefits of shea butter, something
Africans have known for thousands of
years. Shea nut, known as Kandayi, Osisi
and Emi among the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba
people of Nigeria, respectively, is obtained
from the fruit of shea tree (Vitellaria
paradoxa), which exists in the wild and
grows in an uncultivated state in most parts
of Africa.
Shea fruit is made up of a green epicarp, a
fleshy pulp and a relatively hard shell, which
encloses the shea kernel. The kernel
contains about 60 per cent edible fat (shea
butter) and the residual product, from
which the butter is extracted (shea cake), is
an excellent ingredient for livestock feed
production.
Shea butter is good as table oil because of
its high nutritive value. It is widely used
locally for curing leprosy and other
ailments. According to the American Shea
Butter Institute, 100 per cent pure natural
shea butter is an all-natural vitamin A cream
shown to be a good moisturiser, with
exceptional skin healing properties. Quality
characteristics of skin conditions where 100
per cent shea butter has been proved to be
effective are dry skin, skin rash, skin
peeling after tanning, blemishes and
wrinkles, itching skin, chapped lips,
sunburn, small skin wounds, skin cracks and
tough or rough skin (on feet).
Others are stretch mark prevention during
pregnancy, insect bites, healthy skin, muscle
fatigue, aches and tension, skin allergies
such as poison ivy or poison oaks, pimples,
rashes and skin damage from heat.
Experts say shea butter tree is also valued
medicinally for soothing arthritic pains,
reducing swelling, treating skin problems,
and as an antiseptic for the treatment of
wounds.
A field study carried out by Andrew A.
Erakhrumen from the Department of Forest
Resources Management, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, on uses of different trees,
reported that shea butter oil in South
Western part of Nigeria is used for
treatment of bees and wasp sting,
diarrhoea, anti-venom and anti-poison, for
rheumatism, waist pain, yellow fever and
rheumatic pains.
The waste water from shea butter
production is used as an insecticide; shea
butter is also used to treat inflammation,
rashes in children, dermatitis, sunburn,
chapping, irritation, ulcers and as a rub for
rheumatism. Its leaves are used for the
treatment of fracture, conjunctivitis,
trachoma, convulsion, stomach-ache and
headache.
Shea butter tree bark is said to be used for
the treatment of dysentery, haemorrhoids,
schistosomiasis, coughs, jaundice, nausea,
diarrhoea, constipation, headaches, fever,
and as an eye lotion. Its roots are used for
the treatment of female sterility, gastritis,
liver cancer, ascites, sores, jaundice,
diarrhea and stomach-ache, as well as
chewing stick.
Among the most popular essential oils used
for medicinal uses in Northern Nigeria are
oils extracted from the seeds of mahogany
oil, castor seed oil, shea butter oil, neem
seed oil and sesame oil. Shea butter oil is
made from the seeds of shea butter tree
and it is mostly kept by traditional
midwives and used as an antiseptic to treat
the umbilical cord. It is also applied to
wounds and cuts, particularly those inflicted
by sharp objects such as in farming (anti-
tetanus). It is also used by bone setters to
treat fractures and arthritis of the bone.
Writing on the potential benefits of shea
butter to prevent aging of the skin, in the
2005 edition of European Journal of
Scientific Research, a group of scientists,
namely Odukoya, OA, Jenkins, OM, Ilori, OO,
Sofidiya, OM from the Faculty of Pharmacy,
College of Medicine, University of Lagos,
stated that shea butter works better in
protecting the skin from dryness by
moisturizing and softening the skin than
other products such as castor oil and olive
oil.
According to them, rubbing such natural
skin moisturizers like shea butter, coconut
oil and palm kernel oil could be of use as
preventive therapy for wrinkle, sun burn
and UV-induced cancer.
According to them, shea butter is
incorporated in skin products because the
natural latex contained in it prevents certain
sun allergies, supports cell regeneration and
blood circulation, thus encouraging the
healing process from scars.
A proximate analysis of shea-butter leaves
found it to be a good source of iron,
magnesium and potassium as well as three
important amino acids (valine,
phenylalanine and leucine) essential for
growth.
According to their finding in the 2009
edition of African Journal of
Biotechnology, Taiwo A. Abidemi from the
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta,
Ogun State in collaboration with Oyedepo J.
Adebayo, Oluwadare Idowu and M. O.
Agbotoba, stated that its protein content
makes it nutritionally a good plant protein,
which can supplement animal protein,
thereby alleviating kwashiorkor and
marasmus.
According to them: “By inference, shea
butter leaves will supplement other sources
of dietary iron in man if eaten, and since its
magnesium content is very high, it implies
that adequate consumption of the leaf
would satisfy the recommended daily
allowance when eaten in conjunction with
other sources of dietary magnesium.”
A preliminary assessment of the stem bark
extracts of shea butter against enteric
infections such as diarrhea, dysentery,
worm infestation and other gastrointestinal
tract infections, skin diseases and wound
infections also found that there was a
scientific basis for the use of this plant in
traditional medicine for these diseases.
The 2008 study was published in the
African Journal of Pharmacy and
Pharmacology, by El-Mahmood, A. M,
Doughari, J. H. and Ladan, N from the
Department of Microbiology, School of Pure
and Applied Sciences, Federal University of
Technology, Yola, Adamawa State.
The seed of shea butter relieves blocked
nostrils. This traditional method of relieving
nasal congestion, a research in the British
Journal of Clinical Pharmacology tried out in
some participants suffering from rhinitis
with moderate to severe nasal congestion.
They were divided into the test group,
which received shea butter, the control
group, which was treated with
xylometazoline and the ‘placebo’ group
which received white petroleum jelly B.P.
The author wrote: “The results showed that
nasal congestion was relieved more
satisfactorily in the test group than in the
other two groups. It is concluded that shea
butter may prove more efficacious in nasal
congestion than conventional nasal drops.”
The usefulness of shea butter in the
management of sinusitis and relief of nasal
congestion has been attributed to its
hydrating properties, which help in relaxing
the tension in the face skin, thus easing
respiration. However, there is a warning;
shea butter is not recommended for people
with nut or latex allergies.