Effects of palm oil on cholesterol
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen, in Frederiksberg, Denmark, compared the effects of a diet rich in palm olein (the liquid portion of a fat) to fractionated palm oil, olive oil, and lard.
First, the details.
- 32 healthy men replaced part of their dietary fat intake with about 17% of energy from palm olein, olive oil, or lard, respectively.
- All participants followed each diet for 3 weeks in random order.
- Neither the patients nor researchers knew the treatment given — double blind.
And, the results.
- Compared with olive oil, palm olein and lard significantly increased total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol.
- Palm olein resulted in significantly lower triglyceride blood levels than did olive oil.
- There was no difference in effects on HDL (good) cholesterol, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, plasminogen activator-1, insulin, and blood sugar concentrations.
The bottom line?
The authors concluded that their findings do not support the previous finding that the effect of palm olein on total plasma cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in healthy individuals with normal cholesterol concentrations is neutral compared with that of olive oil.
The relatively lower triglyceride blood concentrations after the palm olein diet than after the olive oil diet was unexpected.
The results don’t appear to support palm oil as alternative to olive oil in your diet.
11/21/11 20:47 JR
dreamloud4us said:
on January 17, 2012 at 11:22 AM
How is it that someone can conduct an experiment with palm OLEIN and make claims about palm OIL? This is a scientific fallacy that we see over and over again. You cannot conclude that a whole substance does or does not behave a certain way when you have only tested a portion of that substance.
JR said:
on January 18, 2012 at 11:10 PM
My bad. The last sentence in the post is my incorrect generalization. It is not the conclusion of the researchers.
For the record, palm oil is a natural semi-solid oil. It is fractionated into a liquid olein and solid stearin to increase its versatility in food applications. Olein is mostly used as a cooking and frying oil. Stearin finds many applications in solid fat formulations and is extensively used in food processing. Palm kernel oil is used to make specialty fats for various food products. It is also an important raw material for the oleochemical industry.