Palm Oil

Palm oil is an edible plant oil and is derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis, and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa. It is naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content. It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil derived from the kernel of the same fruit, or coconut oil derived from the kernel of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). The differences are in color (raw palm kernel oil lacks carotenoids and is not red), and in saturated fat content: Palm mesocarp oil is 41% saturated, while Palm Kernel oil and Coconut oil are 81% and 86% saturated respectively

Palm oil, along with coconut oil, is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats. It is semi-solid at room temperatures and contains several saturated and unsaturated fats in the forms of glyceryl laurate (0.1%, saturated), myristate (1%, saturated), palmitate (44%, saturated), stearate (5%, saturated), oleate (39%, monounsaturated), linoleate (10%, polyunsaturated), and alpha-linolenate (0.3%, polyunsaturated). Like all vegetable oils, palm oil does not contain cholesterol, although saturated fat intake increases both LDL and HDL cholesterol.

Palm oil is a common cooking ingredient in the tropical belt of Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of Brazil. Its use in the commercial food industry in other parts of the world is buoyed by its lower cost and by the high oxidative stability (saturation) of the refined product when used for frying. A recent rise in the use of palm oil in the food industry has come from changed labelling requirements that have caused a switch away from using trans fats although palm oil is not a healthy alternative to oils that contain trans fats.

The use of palm oil in food products attracts the concern of environmental activist groups; the high oil yield of the trees, attractive to profit-driven investors, has led, in parts of Indonesia, to removal of forests in order to make space for oil-palm monoculture. This has resulted in acreage losses of the natural habitat of the orangutan. Consumer pressure could encourage palm oil companies to modify their practices. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an international non-profit association that brings together conservation groups and palm-oil firms, says that it "will not certify oil grown on land that was deforested to farm the crop".