Understanding Palm Oil and Why It May Not Be Good for You

There is palm oil in virtually everything, but does it have any positive health effects?

Although palm oil is not a new product on the global market, not enough has been said about it for people to fully understand what it is or why it could not be good for you or the environment. Consider this a crash course on the somewhat contentious vegetable-based oil if you're debating whether you should get rid of all the palm oil in your pantry.

Palm oil: What Is It?

A form of vegetable oil or cooking oil called palm oil is produced from the oil palm tree's fruit. One of the most widely used vegetable oils worldwide, it is edible. Squeezing the fleshy fruit of the oil palm tree or crushing the fruit's kernel both produce palm oil. There are 200 possible alternate names for the oil in addition to palm oil.

Uses for Palm Oil

All kinds of things contain palm oil. It is used in more than half of all packaged items Americans consume, including pizza, doughnuts, ice cream, instant ramen, and chocolate. This is because it is so adaptable. Even Nutella contains palm oil; it is the second ingredient stated on the label. In cases where palm oil is sold as cooking oil, it will be clearly labeled. Do you recall those alternate names? They may make it challenging to tell which foods contain palm oil.

Non-Edible Items

Food contains palm oil, but so do commercial goods like toothpaste, deodorant, lipstick, soap, and laundry detergent. (It is actually adaptable.) It is practically hard to avoid palm oil because it is present in so many goods and goes by so many names.

Nutritive Worth

So, palm oil is healthy? It varies. Briefly put: Olive oil and canola oil are healthier than some culinary fats and oils, however, palm oil is not as healthful. In a healthy, balanced diet, some studies claim that palm oil does not raise the risk of heart disease, while others claim that it may be associated with increased heart disease-related death rates. According to a WHO report, more study is required.

Trans fat vs. Saturated fat

A slightly healthier substitute for trans fats, which are becoming less and less common, is palm oil. (WHO hopes to see a global ban on trans fats by 2023.) Although palm oil does not include trans fats, it is heavy in saturated fat, which increases the risk of heart disease by raising triglycerides and bad cholesterol. Even so, it is less saturated—or healthier—than butter and oils, and shortenings that are heavy in trans fat.

Risk of Contaminant

When palm oil is heated to an extremely high temperature, such as 200 degrees Celsius or 392 degrees Fahrenheit, it may introduce a contaminant that may be carcinogenic. However, this finding only applies to palm oil that has been processed for use in processed foods. Even yet, the study concludes that more investigation is required to determine the potential risk level.

Influence of Industry

Particularly as more details regarding this cooking oil become widely known, public perceptions of palm oil are constantly changing. According to a 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) study, the palm oil industry has influenced research on the health effects of its products, much like the alcohol and tobacco industries have influenced research on the health effects of their products to make them appear less harmful than they actually are.

It's possible that palm oil is unhealthy, or it could have other health impacts that people are unaware of, given that some of the studies on whether it's healthy are potentially biased. "The contentious nature of the evidence emphasizes the necessity for independent, thorough research of the health consequences of palm oil use," the authors of the WHO study write. The results of this study leave room for ambiguity on the health benefits of palm oil.

Impact on the Environment

While the health implications of palm oil are still up for debate, the oil's environmental effects are also a cause for concern. The majority of the world's palm oil is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, and these countries are also home to many of the oil palm farms that contribute significantly to deforestation. The palm oil business is notorious for destroying endangered species' habitats and eradicating rainforests. Additionally, it has been linked to rising carbon emissions, the eviction of indigenous peoples, and labor violations.

However, palm oil utilizes less land, fewer pesticides, and fewer chemical fertilizers than other vegetable oil sources that could serve as substitutes. Even though it wouldn't result in the destruction of priceless rainforests, cultivating the same amount of corn, for instance, would have a considerably greater negative influence on the environment. If you have a lot of concern for the environment, you might want to switch to a more sustainable oil.