Annatto Tocotrienols (Bixa orellana)

Annatto tocotrienols are the vitamin E fraction recovered from the seed of Bixa orellana L. (Bixaceae), the achiote or urucum tree, whose seeds are coated in a waxy red aril best known as the food colour annatto, E 160b. The colour bodies bixin and norbixin are removed during refining, leaving a decolourised, deodorised tocotrienol concentrate. What makes the annatto source distinctive is its isomer profile. Published annatto tocotrienol material runs at approximately 90% delta-tocotrienol (CAS 25612-59-3, C27H40O2, molecular weight 396.6) and 10% gamma-tocotrienol (CAS 14101-61-2, C28H42O2, MW 410.6), with no tocopherols present. Palm and rice bran tocotrienol complexes, by contrast, carry alpha-tocopherol alongside a mixed alpha, gamma and delta tocotrienol profile, which is why the two are not drop-in substitutes for one another. Thovek offers total tocotrienol at 20%, 50%, 70% and 90% by HPLC. Grades below concentrate strength are standardised in a declared carrier oil, typically MCT, high-oleic sunflower or annatto seed oil, and the carrier is named on the specification because it drives both the allergen statement and the tariff line the shipment travels on. A spray-dried powder at 20% to 25% total tocotrienol on modified starch or gum acacia is available for tablets, two-piece capsules and stick packs. All grades are oil-soluble and practically insoluble in water; the powder disperses rather than dissolves, which matters for beverage work where an emulsion or a dedicated dispersible system is needed. One labelling point matters commercially. Tocotrienols are vitamin E vitamers, but they are weaker in bioactivity than alpha-tocopherol, and vitamin E declarations in both the United States and the European Union are built on alpha-tocopherol. A tocotrienol concentrate is therefore normally declared by its tocotrienol content rather than counted toward a vitamin E daily value, and the wording should be confirmed market by market with your regulatory team. On allergens and diet status this is a plant-derived, vegan and vegetarian material with no soy input, which distinguishes it from mixed tocopherols recovered from soybean deodoriser distillate where soy is a declarable allergen, and with no palm, milk, egg, fish, crustacean, gluten or nut input. Tocotrienol oils oxidise, so lots ship in filled, nitrogen-blanketed, light-excluding containers and should be re-blanketed after part use.