the present invention is directed to antler powder produced by a method as described herein and nutraceutical compositions containing such powder . the antlers are those grown by species of elk , deer , reindeer or caribou or similar animals . in this specification and in the claims , &# 34 ; nutraceutical &# 34 ; shall mean a food or food component that is intended to promote health . such food or food components contain sources that are indicated to be epidemiologically important in disease prevention and have been shown to be likely to help prevent chronic diseases . the method described as the preferred embodiment is described in reference to manual operations , however , it will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that any or all of the steps of the within described method may be automated . the method is equally applicable to antlers harvested during their growth phase or antlers harvested later in the growth cycle , even antlers which have been shed by the animal at the end of the cycle . in general , the method begins with fresh or frozen antlers which are comprised of an outer skin layer and an inner hard tissue core . the antlers are cut to a convenient length by any suitable means . if frozen , the antlers may be thawed to room temperature . it is preferable that the antler be first washed with a soft brush and warm water to remove any extraneous or foreign material before further treatment . the antler pieces are then retorted for approximately 2 hours at a temperature in the range of about 100 ° c . to about 120 ° c . at a pressure of approximately 15 p . s . i . more severe retort conditions may be required if the antlers display a high degree of calcification . in the preferred embodiment , after retorting , the skin is removed and separated from the hard tissue for separate processing . distilled water is then added to the hard tissue fraction to achieve approximately 2 : 1 ratio of water to hard tissue by weight . the hard tissue is then homogenized by blending at high speed for approximately 5 minutes in a waring blender . distilled water is also added to the skin fraction again in a 2 : 1 ratio . the skin is also homogenized by high speed blending . the skin fraction contains undesirable hairs and should be filtered to remove the hair contamination . the homogenized skin fraction is passed through four layers of cheese cloth twice to remove hair contamination . the filtrate is washed with small amounts of distilled water . the hard tissue and skin homogenates are then combined and re - homogenized by high speed blending . the resulting combined homogenate is then separated into solid and liquid fractions . the preferable method for such separation is low speed centrifugation . alternatively , the combined homogenate may be filtered to achieve such separation . the precipitate is then lyophilized and pulverized to a suitable mesh size . the supernate from the centrifugation step is also lyophilized , leaving a solid residue which is also pulverized to a desired mesh size . the residue from the lyophilized supernate comprises primarily water soluble antler powder while the lyophilized precipitate comprises primarily water insoluble antler powder . the soluble and insoluble powders may be combined to form whole antler powder or may be used separately for different purposes . the soluble antler powder contains the bulk of the proteinaceous material while the insoluble antler powder is a richer source of minerals . either the soluble powder or the insoluble powder , or preferably the combined whole antler powder , may be used to form nutraceutical capsules or tablets or may be used as an ingredient in nutritional bars , beverages or the like . the soluble antler powder is suitable for preparation of a tonic beverage . the insoluble antler powder may be used as a mineral supplement in a wide variety of different forms . the following example is an illustration of the preferred embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention in any way . frozen elk antlers were cut to 30 cm lengths by an electric chain saw . the antler pieces were gently washed with clean warm water and a soft brush and then retorted for 2 hours at 120 ° c . at 15 p . s . i the skin was then removed by hand and kept separate from the hard tissue . the skin was homogenized for 5 minutes at high speed in a waring blender . the skin homogenate was then filtered twice through four layers of cheese cloth and the filtrate was washed with a small amount of distilled water . the hard tissue was also homogenized for 5 minutes at high speed in a waring blender . the hard tissue homogenate is then added to the filtered skin homogenate and the mixture was re - homogenized for an additional 5 minutes . the combined homogenate was then centrifuged at approximately 1000 × g for 15 minutes . both the precipitate portion and the supernate portion were separately lyophilized , and the resulting solids from each portion separately pulverized with a grinder to a fine powder . the soluble and insoluble antler powders were then combined to form whole antler powder . yield mass of whole antler powder was approximately 30 % of the antlers used in the process . the whole , soluble and insoluble antler powder were each analyzed for chemical - physical properties with the following results : table 1______________________________________chemical composition for antler products______________________________________proximate analysis (% of total mass ) antler moisture protein lipids nfe + fibre ash______________________________________whole 0 . 6 62 . 8 0 . 5 0 . 5 35 . 1soluble 20 . 3 80 . 6 0 . 8 0 . 6 5 . 0insoluble 1 . 9 33 . 6 1 . 9 2 . 9 63 . 6______________________________________macro minerals (% of total mass ) antler ca p k na s mg______________________________________whole 13 . 27 6 . 54 0 . 25 0 . 80 0 . 45 0 . 39soluble 0 . 59 0 . 38 0 . 49 0 . 84 -- 0 . 04insoluble 25 . 64 11 . 86 0 . 08 0 . 51 -- 0 . 46______________________________________ the proximate analysis was performed in accordance with the official methods of analysis , aocs ( association of official analytical chemists ), 14th ed ., washington d . c ., 1987 . the micro kjeldahl method was used for protein determination ; the ether soxhlet extract method for lipid determination ; furnace decomposition method for ash determination ; and moisture content determined by the oven dry method . nfe ( nitrogen - free extract ) plus fibre is computed as 100 %-(% protein +% lipid +% ash +% moisture ). mineral analysis was done by emission spectrographic methods .
a nutraceutical composition comprising water insoluble antler powder or water soluble antler powder or a combination of both . also disclosed is a method of producing antler powder , either water soluble , water insoluble or a combination of both .