Every one of us has heard of palm oil, and of course it has a place in a balanced diet like everything else in life. Naturally we want to know more about palm oil especially as it is used in many of the foods we consume, from snacks, to biscuits, to that “healthy” protein bar. So, is palm oil bad for you?. The answer is yes and no both. The overall answer is complicated, so to make it easy for you to understand, I am going to explain what palm oil is, the pros and cons of palm oil, and the dangers of too much of it.

What is palm oil?
Palm oil is extracted from the flesh of oil palm fruit – not the seed like sunflower oil and canola oil. Palm oil is thick and semi-solid at room temperature. This is one reason why the palm oil can help with a food package as it can keep food fresher longer and give food a pleasing mouthfeel. Palm oil is also found in instant noodles, cookies and other kinds of peanut butter. In some ways, it seems like there is a perception that palm oil is bad, but why?

The Benefits of Palm Oil

Unrefined red palm oil does have some minimally helpful aspects to your health, as it has beta-carotene (converted to be vitamin A by your body) and vitamin E tocotrienols (the anti-oxidant part). The beta-carotene may have a positive action in terms of protecting your brain, and the tocotrienols may be able to lower your bad cholesterol and limit plaquing of the arteries. Sounds promising, right? There’s a catch!

The Pretty Bad Stuff

Almost all oil palm in processed food products is not the beneficial red oil. It is refined, bleached and deodorized with the loss of many nutrients. It is also about 50% saturated fat. That is less saturated fat than butter and more than olive oil or sunflower oil. The concern with saturated fat is that it may increase your bad (LDL) cholesterol and your risk of heart disease. You would be amazed at how many processed foods have palm oil to include fried snacks, baked goods, even candy. You could ingest a good amount of palm oil very quickly. And if you consider how poorly oil palm oil is being recycled after frying (at least in restaurants or food stalls) you may be consuming unhealthy trans fats and other compounds that can also cause inflammation and other adverse health outcomes.

Also Read: MAP Magic: Curious Way To Instantly Bring Down High BP

It Is Everywhere

There are many more types of oil palm you may see in the form of “vegetable oil,” palm kernel oil, palmitate, etc. You may see it in frozen dinners, or coffee creamers and may even be in beauty products. Because it is all around us it is hard to tell

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