| Description | Caprylic acid, or octanoic acid, with the structural formula CH3(CH2)6CO2H, is an eight-carbon straight-chain fatty acid and a carboxylic acid. It is an oily Liquid with a slightly unpleasant rancid taste and odor. It is minimally soluble in water. Caprylic acid can be found in numerous foods such as Prunus (Cherry, Plum), pineapple sages, black raspberries, shallots, coconuts and breast milk. Caprylic acid is taken as a dietary supplement. Caprylic acid is used commercially in the production of esters used in perfumery and in the manufacture of dyes. Caprylic acid is an antimicrobial pesticide used as a food contact surface sanitizer on dairy equipment, food processing equipment, breweries, wineries, and beverage processing plants. It is also used as disinfectant in health care facilities, schools/colleges, industrial facilities, recreational facilities, retail and wholesale establishments, livestock premises, restaurants, and hotels/motels. In addition, caprylic acid is used as an algicide, bactericide, fungicide, and herbicide in greenhouses and garden centers. Caprylic acid, and other fatty acids, affect the hunger hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin must be acylated, where it acquires an -OH group, before it can stimulate the hunger receptors in the hypothalamus. Caprylic acid becomes linked post-translationally to serine at the 3-position by the enzyme ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT), located on the cell membrane of ghrelin cells in the stomach and pancreas (PMID 19896496 ). Caprylic acid affects those with medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCAD), which is an inborn error of metabolism, marked by mutations of the gene ACADM. Those affected with MCAD have difficulties converting fatty acids to energy, especially during fasting. As a result, fatty acids build up and cause damage to liver and brain (PMID: 27536022 ). |
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