Formulated Therapeutic Products of Animal Fats and Oils: Future Prospects of Zootherapy

In the traditional system of practices, animal fats and its oil gained acceptance in healing various ailments. Fats are chemically triglycerides in which glycerol is esterified with three fatty acids. The fats are generally obtained from animal by rendering methods. The main difference between fat and oil is that they are solid and liquid at room temperature respectively. Fatty acid composition present in oil is determined by GC-MS analysis. And it mainly includes oleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid. This composition plays an important role in antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial activities. The therapeutic products from the animal’s fat and oils are presenting the tremendous acceptability for human, while used by various route of administrations for various internal and external therapeutic indications. This merit of the animal’s fat and oils make it an exceptional choice for using them as a drug. The key fatty acid present in the oil are mainly responsible for the therapeutic activity. The different types of fat obtained from varieties of animal include crocodile, turtle, lizard, sheep, cobra, shark, python etc. Lack of scientific evidence for the traditional healing practice using animal fats or its oils make researches to scientifically prove the therapeutic activity and this may lead to the new era for the development of a variety of novel formulations. Animal based products are also gained importance along with animal based medicines. This article focuses on various animal fats, its traditional uses and some of the formulations developed recently by using these.