Inositol

Brief Overview

Inositol is important nutrition that has been implicated in the treatment process of some emotional or behavioral disorders. This compound is categorized as a sugar which presents in several biological compounds such as phosphatidylinositol found in breast milk. Inositol is naturally occurring in our body by breaking down glucose. However, the digestive system in our body can absorb inositol from the food what we eat. Hence, consuming foods that are high in inositol can help to boost overall inositol intake. Having an enough dietary intake of inositol helps in cellular signal transduction and phospholipid assembly.

Manufacturing Process

There are several steps in producing inositol. The raw materials was corn grain which had 1,31% phytin. The corn grain was soaked for 3 to 4 days to remove impurities with a liquid mixture of water and acid. The precipitate, which was the phytin, was undergoing hydrolyzed process and heating process. The output of this process was a crude inositol.

For the purifying process, the crude inositol was added to distilled water at a ratio of 1:1,5, heated, and dissolved. After the boiling process, the solution was filtered out and cooled to 32⁰C. the mother liquor was separated in the refining process and sent to a purification to minimize the loss of inositol. Finally, the wet inositol is dried at the temperature of 70⁰C to yield the desired product.

Pharmaceutical Industry  

Inositol in pharmaceutical industry is used for women that suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome. It is also used as treatment of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome in infants. Inositol is usually produced as supplements. 

Food Industry  

Inositol is used in vitamin infusion products as vitamin B8.