Is palm oil harmful to humans? What harm does palm oil do?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

In Russia, journalists, food industry workers, State Duma deputies express the opinion that palm oil is not digested, harms the heart and causes a malignant tumor. Let's briefly consider the harm of palm oil to human he alth: is it really there or is it a myth?

What is palm oil

Palm oil is obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree, which grows in West Africa. About 5 thousand years ago, palm oil was used there for cooking. In the eighteenth century, the product came to Europe and gradually spread throughout the world. Asia is currently the main importer.

At temperatures up to 25 degrees, the oil remains solid, unlike other vegetable oils. It is more like a fat than an oil. Its melting point is 27 degrees Celsius, and it becomes liquid only at 42 degrees. The semi-solid consistency is due to the content of palmitic acid, which is present in most animals.fat.

Food Applications

Is palm oil harmful to human he alth? Its use in the food industry, for example, in the glaze of cakes, was allowed back in the days of the USSR. At that time, the country's top nutritionists did not consider palm oil to be harmful.

According to the Federal Customs Service, exports increased sharply during the 1998 crisis, when Russians began to cook cheap products in tropical oil. In 1997, 100 tons of oil were delivered to Russia, and already next year - 390 tons.

By the end of the 2000s, the problem escalated as much as possible: manufacturers made dairy products without milk, without reflecting this on the labels. The technical regulations of 2008 allowed to call products from exotic oil terms that are close to dairy, such as “sour cream”, “cheese” and the like.

Deceiving customers was banned only in 2012. Then, at the highest state level, the concepts of “vegetable-milk” (less than half of natural milk) and “milk-vegetable” (more than half of milk) were legalized.

These restrictions were not enough: it is very profitable for manufacturers to replace milk fat with vegetable fat. Palm oil allows you to create a very cheap product. A ton of "palms" costs approximately $570. (31.1 thousand rubles), and milk fat - from 2,900 dollars. (188.8 thousand rubles).

So, the manufacturer presents a dairy product as a quality one, but in fact adds from 60 to 100% of the substitute,becoming a millionaire in six months. In Asia, you can hear that owning an oil palm plantation is more profitable than owning an oil well.

Palm oil ban

Different states struggle with exotic palm oil in different ways. India and Thailand, for example, have imposed additional taxes on palm tree imports. France plans to raise taxes on food products made with palm oil by 300%.

A UK supermarket chain announced in 2018 that it intends to remove an ingredient from its own products in a bid to stop the rapid decline of tropical forests in southeast Asia.

In the same year, the EU Parliament adopted a directive on the basis of which fuel investment, including on the basis of "palms", will be reduced. Jakarta has officially spoken out against the decree, as it would reduce oil exports to the European Union.

WHO in May 2018 presented the REPLACE package of measures to the public. This is a step-by-step guide to eliminating industrial trans fats from food worldwide.

Palm oil claims

What harm does palm oil do? Individual industry representatives and nutritionists have several complaints about the product. “Palm” is credited with an increased content of harmful trans fats, which greatly increase the likelihood of developing serious pathologies of the cardiovascular system.

Often seeninformation in the media that a low-quality product is supplied to the Russian Federation - palm oil, which is used for technical purposes. But the Customs Union controls compliance with the regulations that specify the requirements for the product: the oil must not exceed the permissible standards for radionuclides, yeast, toxic components, and the degree of oxidation must also be observed.

Reputation of oil producers

Palm oil has been linked to new environmental problems. To grow palm trees, plantations are being expanded, tropical forests are being cut down, which are the main habitat of many endangered animals.

WWF does not oppose palm oil, but sharply criticizes the policy of many suppliers: instead of creating plantations on developed land, they are clearing new territories by burning what grows on them.

To support those who oppose deforestation, many manufacturers have begun to market products labeled “free of palm oil”. This environmental move was seen by the uninformed public as a rejection on the grounds that the product was unhe althy. The measure gave rise to numerous myths about the dangers of palm oil.

What is dangerous?

"Palm" greatly reduces production costs and increases the period of safe storage of products. But is palm oil harmful to humans? The main dangers (and not only forhe alth):

1. Use of oil leads to heart disease, atherosclerosis, can provoke oncology.
2. Palm oil is used in the production cycle of a large number of products (the packaging indicates “confectionery” or “vegetable fat”), so a person receives less vitamins and nutrients from the same cottage cheese or butter. The diet on this ingredient alone turns out to be extremely meager.
3. Product used for falsification has not been processed properly and may not be suitable for human consumption. GOST clearly defines the permissible content of radionuclides, toxic elements, pesticides, requires storing oil in stainless steel cans, deodorizing and refining in a certain way. Raw materials for counterfeit are poured into plastic tanks not intended for the transportation of this product. Fake oil may contain heavy metals: cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, non-food chemicals.
4. Palm oil products are cheaper than natural products, but not always sold at the real price.
5. Negative environmental and social impacts of production. For mass cultivation, palm trees burn forests, reducing biodiversity and destroying ecosystems. Due to the production of the product from 1990 to 2008, 8% of forests were destroyed. Plantation work is often done without respect for human rights.

Palmitic fatty acid

The question of the dangers of palm oil for humans is related to the content of saturated acids in the product. They raise cholesterol levels inbody, provoke atherosclerosis and disrupt the functioning of enzymes.

And yet: is palm oil so harmful to humans? In fact, palmitic acid does not affect the level of so-called bad cholesterol. It all depends on carbohydrates. As long as they are few, fatty acids are safe. What’s more, eating more saturated fat and fewer carbohydrates will increase your good cholesterol levels. Consuming carbohydrates in large quantities makes fat a dangerous enemy.

Palm oil in infant formula

The benefits and harms of palm oil for children are being discussed particularly lively. In infant formulas, it is not butter that is added, but acid, which is also present in natural human milk.

There are studies confirming that mixtures with palmitic acid are absorbed worse than without it. The acid forms insoluble compounds with calcium, which are excreted naturally from the body.

But there are also works that compare the amount of calcium that breastfed babies get with and without palm tree formulas. And women's milk is not in the first position. So it is completely wrong to say unequivocally that palmitin reduces the quality of infant formula.

Other acids in oil

The composition of palm oil includes palmitic (about 50%), oleic (from 35% to 45%) and linoleic (5%) acids. Palmitic acid is found in animal products, so its deficiencythreatens only vegans.

As for other acids, the value of the oil is determined by the amount of linoleic acid: the higher it is, the more useful the type of oil. Medium quality vegetable oil usually contains 70-75% linoleic acid, palm oil only 5%.

The leader in the content of oleic acid is olive oil. This acid prevents the deposition of fats and even promotes their burning.

Carcinogenicity of palm oil

The media claim that the harm of palm oil to human he alth is to provoke cancer. In fact, the connection with oncology has not been established. A review of scientific publications found evidence to be inconsistent and studies to be few.

Cause of cardiovascular disease

In statements about the harm that palm oil does to the body, it is often mentioned that the product causes serious diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Any solid fat (including milk, beef and lard, coconut oil, any fully or partially hydrogenated oils) contains a certain amount of trans fats, which cause significant harm to he alth.

100 g of butter contains 1.5 g of trans fats, 100 g of hard margarine - 20 g, 100 g of soft margarine - 7.4 g. There are no trans fats in palm oil if it is not hydrogenated, but there are saturated fats (as in meat and dairy products).

Saturated fats used to be considered harmful to the heart and blood vessels, but current data suggests that their consumption in moderation is nothas a significant effect on the risk of coronary disease, although it increases cholesterol levels.

Palm oil and trans fats

Until recently, trans fats were actively used in the manufacture of food products. Now they are being replaced with palm oil, a natural and cheap product. The harm of palm oil to the human body is minimal compared to aggressive trans fats.

It is trans fats that are bad for he alth. A diet with a high content of them increases the risk of developing pathologies of the cardiovascular system by 21%, mortality - by 28%.

According to WHO, the use of these substances leads to 500 thousand deaths from diseases annually. Given the frightening statistics, WHO has set standards for the consumption of unsafe foods: the diet should not contain more than 1% trans fats.

Difficulty digesting

Is palm oil harmful to humans in terms of the digestive system? In the intestines, "palm" breaks down into fatty acids and glycerol. If the pancreas is working normally, then digestion and absorption are almost maximum. Nature has provided enzymes for the normal digestion of vegetable and animal fats.

Poor quality

Harm palm oil for humans is if the product is of poor quality. But most of the products that end up on store shelves are controlled by the Customs Union. The organization does not approve palm oil for industrial use unless it meetsspecial regulations. Is poor quality palm oil harmful to humans? Of course, but such a product is almost never found in stores.