Amaranth oil, as its name suggests, is the removal of the fat from the seeds of the amaranth plant. The oil is extracted from amaranth species: Amaranthus cruentus L., Amaranthus hypochondriacus L. and Amaranthus caudatus L. Amaranth grain has a higher percentage of oil that that of cereals Amaranth is a seed native to South and Central America that has been grown since 2.000aC. With the arrival of Spanish colonists, its cultivation was banned as a food considered being part of pagan rituals of indigenous peoples.

Amaranth grain contains only 8% of oil, a very small amount compared to 34% of flax or almost 40% of safflower from which safflower oil is extracted. Specifically, the amaranth oil is expensive and hard to find, but it's very beneficial properties, especially because of its anticarcinogenic and antioxidant power.

Amaranth oil, like all oils, it is 99% fat . The most important of the composition of an oil is the type of fat, which can be saturated, unsaturated or polyunsaturated.

In addition, fats can preserve the plant chemicals that are included in the grain, such as the following table shows.

Saturated Fatty Acids : 16 %

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids : 20 %

from which it is worth mentioning its content in healthy oleic acid : Omega 9

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids : 63.9 %

from which it is worth mentioning its content in the essential fatty acid: linoleic acid : Omega 6

Amaranth grain has a higher percentage of oil that that of cereals. Beside in the composition of these oils highlights the presence of oleic acid and linoleic acid. This type of fat has a cardioprotective role. Although the benefits omega 6 are well-known, amaranth oil (and amaranth seeds to a lesser extent) contain other potent natural antioxidants such as squalene. It is estimated that the antioxidant activity of this substance is three times the antioxidant power of vitamin C. it was shown that a balanced consumption of amaranth oil, along with a balanced diet, decreased levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL .

Squalene is an antioxidant substance with anticancer properties and which is in the amaranth in large quantity. Squalene can be found in amaranth seed. This substance was known in the ancient Japanese Pharmacopoeia, and then called "Samedawa" which means "cure-all." Indeed, the inhabitants of the Japanese peninsula used squalene shark oil for a wide variety of illnesses, including constipation and cancer. The common source of squalene is shark oil, containing 1% of this substance, and this source is the one that gives the name to this oil, since it is derived from the Latin Squalidae, that's to say, the biological family name of sharks. Amaranth, however It is estimated that the antioxidant activity of this substance is three times the antioxidant power of vitamin C., Besides squalene, the anticancer effect of beta-sitosterol, a plant sterol (phytosterol) present in many amaranth which also have anticancer properties described.