What are the health benefits of palm oil?
Update March 2022. European think-tank organized a webinar that looked at saturated fats and human health.
Professor Francesco Visioli from Italy and Dr. Sundram Kalyana presented their decades of work on saturated fats to debunk the myths on saturated fats. The webinar can be accessed here.
Professor Francesco Visioli from Italy and Dr. Sundram Kalyana presented their decades of work on saturated fats to debunk the myths on saturated fats. The webinar can be accessed here.
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Is palm oil good for you? Is palm oil bad for you?
Palm oil may not be a home kitchen staple like olive oil or canola oil but researchers are taking another look at the health benefits of this widely produced tropical oil. Palm oil in the north American diet experienced a boom in demand when the US and Canada banned the use of partially hydrogenated oils, the main dietary source of artificial trans fats, after determining they are not safe to use in food. |
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A Washington Post report on the problems of trans fats quoted Walter Willett, the Harvard University nutrition professor whose research first surfaced the problems with trans fats.
“Willett says that could slash the rates of preliminary death from heart disease, and reduce the incidence of diabetes, dementia and other metabolic diseases. Such declines have been observed in New York City, which banned the use of partially hydrogenated oils in restaurants in 2007, and in Denmark, which became the first country to ban trans fats in 2003.”
The surging popularity of palm oil led to scrutiny on its impacts on human health. Popular opinions on the health benefits of palm oil like “Palm Oil Has a Reputation for Being Bad for You—Here's What Nutritionists Really Think” or “The Potential Risk of Consuming Too Much Palm Oil” all point to the same conclusion. Palm oil is beneficial for human health but its high content of saturated fats has been questioned. The health concerns on the level of saturated fats in palm oil may be answered by the on-going discussions on coconut oil which has similar properties as palm oil.
Coconut oil has 30% more saturated fats than palm oil but it is widely accepted as a superfood despite its high fat content. The Coconut Coalition of the Americas (CCA) has argued against findings of coconut oil consumption on cardiovascular risks. Their arguments are supported by popular health and wellness platforms like Healthline which compiled a Top-10 Evidence Based Health Benefits of Coconut Oil.
The arguments presented by the CCA may become moot if the US nutritionists call for dietary guideline limits on saturated fat intake to be lifted is answered.
The letter to Congress from nutrition researchers and former members of the dietary guideline advisory committee (DGAC) urged the departments of health and human services and agriculture to give “serious and immediate consideration” to lifting the cap placed on saturated fat intake.
While that debate on saturated fats carries on, the benefits of palm oil for human health has been established in multiple studies on its other properties including carotene and tocotrienols, which are most plentiful in palm oil. Carotenes are an essential antioxidant best known for healthy vision but the current buzz on the health benefits of palm oil is as a source of Vitamin E in the form of tocopherols and tocotrienols.
What are tocotrienols and tocopherols?
According to Healthline,
“Tocotrienols are chemicals in the vitamin E family. Vitamin E is a substance necessary for proper body and brain function.
As with the other vitamin E chemicals, tocopherols, there are four types of tocotrienols found in nature: alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. Tocotrienols occur in the oils of rice bran, palm fruit, barley, and wheat germ. Tocopherols, on the other hand, are found mostly in vegetable oils such as olive, sunflower and safflower oils, whole grains, and green leafy vegetables.
These substances are also available in supplement form as capsules or pills. Although tocotrienols are structurally similar to tocopherols, each has slightly different health properties.
Experts believe that tocotrienols have many health benefits — some that are more powerful than those found in more common tocopherols. These include increased brain health and functionality, anti-cancer activity, and cholesterol-lowering properties.”
As reported by Medical News Today:
“Tocotrienols are a group of chemicals that are part of the vitamin E family. So far, research has uncovered numerous benefits associated with tocotrienols.
Tocopherols are another group of chemicals that make up the vitamin E family. Both tocotrienols and tocopherols comes in four forms: alpha, beta, delta, and gamma.
The average American diet contains more tocopherols than tocotrienols, so researchers are increasingly interested in how supplementing with tocotrienols might improve health.”
The use of palm oil in consumer foods in North America is not as ubiquitous as soy and canola dominates the vegetable oils sector. This may explain the popularity of palm oil-based Vitamin E supplements as north American consumers buy up red palm oil tocotrienol supplements to improve their heart and brain functions since common food sources of Vitamin E contain only the tocopherol version.
Is palm good for you? Or is it bad for you?
The Malaysian Palm Oil Council has gathered some world renown experts on these questions in January 2021 at a virtual conference.
Presenters including Dr. Chandra Sen Indiana University, Dr. Yap Wei Ney Davos Life science, Dr. Jose Atilio Canas, John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Dr.David Diamond, University of South Florida and Dr. Peter Pressman will be presenting their findings.
This conference should answer the questions of whether palm oil is good or bad for human health. There is no doubt that tocotrienol and carotene supplements from palm oil are a great supplement for human health. However, caution should be used. Just because palm oil, especially red palm oil is chockful of healthy antioxidants does not mean that one should consume it in large quantities. A balanced nutritious diet and lifestyle is the best thing for optimal human health. In the case of consumers that need an extra boost to recover from unhealthy lifestyles, supplementing daily consumption with palm oil based antioxidants is best done with science based supplements that will work to improve your overall health and well-being.
Published December 2020. CSPO Watch
“Willett says that could slash the rates of preliminary death from heart disease, and reduce the incidence of diabetes, dementia and other metabolic diseases. Such declines have been observed in New York City, which banned the use of partially hydrogenated oils in restaurants in 2007, and in Denmark, which became the first country to ban trans fats in 2003.”
The surging popularity of palm oil led to scrutiny on its impacts on human health. Popular opinions on the health benefits of palm oil like “Palm Oil Has a Reputation for Being Bad for You—Here's What Nutritionists Really Think” or “The Potential Risk of Consuming Too Much Palm Oil” all point to the same conclusion. Palm oil is beneficial for human health but its high content of saturated fats has been questioned. The health concerns on the level of saturated fats in palm oil may be answered by the on-going discussions on coconut oil which has similar properties as palm oil.
Coconut oil has 30% more saturated fats than palm oil but it is widely accepted as a superfood despite its high fat content. The Coconut Coalition of the Americas (CCA) has argued against findings of coconut oil consumption on cardiovascular risks. Their arguments are supported by popular health and wellness platforms like Healthline which compiled a Top-10 Evidence Based Health Benefits of Coconut Oil.
The arguments presented by the CCA may become moot if the US nutritionists call for dietary guideline limits on saturated fat intake to be lifted is answered.
The letter to Congress from nutrition researchers and former members of the dietary guideline advisory committee (DGAC) urged the departments of health and human services and agriculture to give “serious and immediate consideration” to lifting the cap placed on saturated fat intake.
While that debate on saturated fats carries on, the benefits of palm oil for human health has been established in multiple studies on its other properties including carotene and tocotrienols, which are most plentiful in palm oil. Carotenes are an essential antioxidant best known for healthy vision but the current buzz on the health benefits of palm oil is as a source of Vitamin E in the form of tocopherols and tocotrienols.
What are tocotrienols and tocopherols?
According to Healthline,
“Tocotrienols are chemicals in the vitamin E family. Vitamin E is a substance necessary for proper body and brain function.
As with the other vitamin E chemicals, tocopherols, there are four types of tocotrienols found in nature: alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. Tocotrienols occur in the oils of rice bran, palm fruit, barley, and wheat germ. Tocopherols, on the other hand, are found mostly in vegetable oils such as olive, sunflower and safflower oils, whole grains, and green leafy vegetables.
These substances are also available in supplement form as capsules or pills. Although tocotrienols are structurally similar to tocopherols, each has slightly different health properties.
Experts believe that tocotrienols have many health benefits — some that are more powerful than those found in more common tocopherols. These include increased brain health and functionality, anti-cancer activity, and cholesterol-lowering properties.”
As reported by Medical News Today:
“Tocotrienols are a group of chemicals that are part of the vitamin E family. So far, research has uncovered numerous benefits associated with tocotrienols.
Tocopherols are another group of chemicals that make up the vitamin E family. Both tocotrienols and tocopherols comes in four forms: alpha, beta, delta, and gamma.
The average American diet contains more tocopherols than tocotrienols, so researchers are increasingly interested in how supplementing with tocotrienols might improve health.”
The use of palm oil in consumer foods in North America is not as ubiquitous as soy and canola dominates the vegetable oils sector. This may explain the popularity of palm oil-based Vitamin E supplements as north American consumers buy up red palm oil tocotrienol supplements to improve their heart and brain functions since common food sources of Vitamin E contain only the tocopherol version.
Is palm good for you? Or is it bad for you?
The Malaysian Palm Oil Council has gathered some world renown experts on these questions in January 2021 at a virtual conference.
Presenters including Dr. Chandra Sen Indiana University, Dr. Yap Wei Ney Davos Life science, Dr. Jose Atilio Canas, John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Dr.David Diamond, University of South Florida and Dr. Peter Pressman will be presenting their findings.
This conference should answer the questions of whether palm oil is good or bad for human health. There is no doubt that tocotrienol and carotene supplements from palm oil are a great supplement for human health. However, caution should be used. Just because palm oil, especially red palm oil is chockful of healthy antioxidants does not mean that one should consume it in large quantities. A balanced nutritious diet and lifestyle is the best thing for optimal human health. In the case of consumers that need an extra boost to recover from unhealthy lifestyles, supplementing daily consumption with palm oil based antioxidants is best done with science based supplements that will work to improve your overall health and well-being.
Published December 2020. CSPO Watch