At present, the exploitation of the jojoba plant is based solely on the extraction and commercialization of its oil that has various excellent properties. The residual meal or flour contains about 30% of proteins. Therefore, it was investigated in the seventies and eighties if this flour could serve as a valuable food substitute for humans and/or animals in the semi-arid areas, comparable with soy in the oriental countries. However, young animals fed with jojoba flour showed growth retardation and inappropriate development of certain organs such as the reproductive organs.
Originally, it was believed that the jojoba plant was toxic because of the presence of simmondsin. It was stated that the cyanic part would give rise to cyanic acid in the body when digesting the simmondsin compound. Meanwhile, it has been proved that digestion of simmondsin does not lead to liberation of cyanides into the body. Further scientific research revealed food restricting properties without causing the feeling of hunger. This was attributed to dimethylsimmondsin and its ferulates present in jojoba flour.
Meanwhile, our research resulted in a first patent entitled “Method for separating the toxic resinous fraction from prepared whole jojoba seed or jojoba seed press-cake”.
However, some of the observed biological activities could not be explained through pure food restriction solely. Based on the earlier described growth retardation and persistent infertility upon feeding young animals on the one hand, and on the temporary suppression of the reproductive capacities upon feeding adult animals on the other hand, we came to the hypothesis that jojoba flour could have angiogenesis inhibiting properties. The term “angiogenesis inhibition” relates to blocking the formation of new blood vessels. The search for new, useful angiogenesis inhibitors is one of the hottest topics in the development of novel medicines against diseases in which unwanted or uncontrolled blood vessel growth is involved; for eg. tumoral cancers, arthritis, psoriasis, retinopathy’s a.o.
Our recent study in cooperation with TNO-PG (Leiden, The Netherlands) has confirmed our hypothesis on the presence of angiogenesis inhibiting compounds in refined jojoba flour. It has resulted in a second international patent: “Simmondsin for use as an Angiogenesis Inhibitor” (International , US ) Until now, the de-oiled jojoba flour happens to be discarded although this unused part has an economical value in the general food supplement and/or medical drug industry which is far greater than the actual value of the jojoba oil itself.