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Palm oil Helping or harming?
Is palm oil good for the body ? Palm oil is widely used worldwide and is found in almost everything in the food and industrial industries, in the production of biofuels and in animal husbandry. Do you know where else? In cosmetics. There is a lot of controversy around the topic of palm oil and in this article you will learn what are the risks that its production creates.
What is palm oil Palm oil?
is extracted from the heart of the fruit of oil palms, mainly from the species Elaeis guineensis, found in Africa, and to a lesser extent from Elaeis oleifera (America) and Talea maripa (South America, Trinidad and Tobago). Its natural color is reddish due to the high content of beta carotene. It is characterized by a typical walnut taste and pleasant smell. Due to its 50% saturation, palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature. Its resistance to oxidation and long-term resistance to high temperatures makes it an ideal component for frying mixes.
Due to its natural semi-solid state, palm oil is a suitable fat for making confectionery, biscuits, bread and bakery products. Palm oil should not be confused with the oil extracted from the seeds of the palm fruit, which does not contain carotenoids and therefore differs in color. Carotenoid content is also absent in refined palm oil, found as RBD palm oil (Refined, Bleached and Dried). It has been used in Polynesia for thousands of years. It is believed that humans consumed it 5,000 years ago, but its industrial production began in the mid-1990s in Malaysia.
The high use of palm oil in the food industry is causing a great deal of concern among groups of environmental activists.
The reason is that high consumption also requires high yields – many forests are destroyed so that oil palm crops can be planted in their place. This has a negative effect on the animal world, in particular on the other three species of orangutans, whose natural habitats are the destroyed forests.
History of palm oil
Mankind has used oil palms 5,000 years ago. At the end of the 19th century, archaeologists discovered a substance in a tomb in Abydos (a city in ancient Egypt, located northwest of Thebes), which is believed to have been palm oil dating back to 3000 BC. E. guineensiss palm oil has long been recognized by countries in West and Central Africa and is widely used as a cooking oil. This is how it is transmitted to Europe – through European traders trading with West Africa.
A curious fact is the use of oil as an industrial lubricant for machines during the British Industrial Revolution.
Types of palm oil and production
Many modern processed products contain palm oil or various ingredients made from it. Various palm oil products are produced after certain processes. This includes:
- grinding;
- refining;
- fractionation;
- crystallization;
- separation.
The ultimate goal is to obtain two fractions:
- solid, containing stearic acid (palm stearin);
- liquid composed of oleic acid (palm olein).
The oil is then purified from various mechanical contaminants using filtration, and the resulting mixture is bleached. The final steps are refining and deodorizing to remove odors. Discoloration is also applied.
Palm oil (olein)
This is the liquid fraction of palm oil. Used for frying, for seasoning salads. It is often mixed with some other vegetable oils in order to improve the quality and lower their price. Palm olein is the most common oil in the world.
Palm stearin
Stearin is a co-product of olein and is the solid fraction of palm oil. Its price is lower and this makes it preferred for some industries – a major, inexpensive component of confectionery and baking fats. Its price is going up as its traditional use for food and cosmetics increases due to the growing population of the world.
White palm oil
This oil is the result of a refining process through which it loses its saturated red color. Refined palm oil is widely used in industry and can be found in a variety of processed products, including peanut butter and chips.
Red palm oil
Red palm oil is cold pressed from the fruit of the oil palm and is bottled for use in cooking or used as an ingredient in mayonnaise. It contains 50% saturated, 40% unsaturated and 10% polyunsaturated fats. When unprocessed, it is deep red in color due to its high carotene content.
Characteristics of red and refined palm oil
The crude palm oil obtained from the mesocarp of the fruit of the palm tree Elaeis guineensis consists mainly of glycerides, but also of a small amount of non-glyceride components, including:
- free fatty acids;
- liquid; carotenoids;
- tocopherols;
- tocotrienols;
- sterol;
- phospholipids, etc.
Of the greatest importance for the properties of palm oil are carotenoids, tocopherols and tocotrienols.
As mentioned, carotenoids contribute to the red-orange color of crude palm oil and have some oxidative protection, as they themselves are oxidized first, before triglycerides. Alpha and beta carotene are precursors of vitamin A, and tocopherols and tocotrienols are isomers of vitamin E, as well as strong antioxidants.
However, some of the non-glyceride components in crude palm oil interfere with its stability and reduce its taste, so crude oil must go through a refining process to become more stable by removing the components in question. Refining can be physical or chemical, and both processes involve high temperature deodorization (250 ° to 270 ° C) in a vacuum environment. The high temperature is necessary in order to be able to remove as much of the substances that are not desired in order for the oil to remain stable.
Unfortunately, these conditions also lead to the removal of some of the tocopherols and tocotrienols, as well as the destruction of all carotenoids.
Carotenoids in red palm oil
Crude palm oil is considered to be the richest source of carotenoids in the plant world worldwide. Malaysian crude palm oil contains between 500 to 700 ppm (parts per million), 37% of which is alpha carotene and 50% – beta. However, it should be noted that the carotenoid content varies between different palm species, such as E. oleifera grown in South America and can reach up to 4,000 ppm.
| Type of oil |
Free fatty acids (%)
|
Carotenes (ppm, parts per million)
|
Vitamin E (ppm, parts per million)
|
|||
| Raw palm oil | 3.53 |
643 |
869 | |||
|
Pre – treated palm olein |
3.53 | 514 | 864 | . | ||
| Red palm olein | 0.04 | 513 | 707 | . | ||
| RBD palm olein | 0.04 | 0 | 561 | . | ||
| . |
Vitamin E
More than 80% of the vitamin E contained in crude palm oil remains in red palm olein, compared to RBD palm olein, where it is only about 65%. Vitamin E is an important antioxidant, and together with carotenes provide a synergistic effect of protection against auto- and photooxidation of unsaturated triglycerides. There are four main types of vitamin E that are found in the composition:
- α-tocopherol (α-T);
- α-tocotrienol (α-T3);
- γ-tocotrienol (γ-T3);
- δ-tocotrienol (δ-T3).
| Type of oil |
|
Vitamin E (ppγ-m, parts per million) |
% contained vitamin E. |
||||||||
α-T α-T3 γ-T3 δ-T3 Total |
|||||||||||
| Raw palm oil |
|
100 | . | ||||||||
| Red palm olein |
|
81.4 | . | ||||||||
| RBD palm olein |
|
64.6 | . | ||||||||
| . |
Coenzyme Q10 and sterols
The content of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) in crude palm oil can reach levels between 10 and 80 parts per million, however levels are significantly lower in RBD palm olein – 10-20 parts per million. Sterols are another important group of substances found in crude palm oil that are also retained in red palm olein. Their importance is in terms of application in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Phytosterols are effective in lowering plasma cholesterol levels.
Red palm olein has a higher sterol content than RBD palm olein.
Palm oil and health benefits
Research on palm oil consumption is controversial. Some studies show that the consumption of palm oil increases LDL cholesterol by 0.24 mmol / L compared to vegetable oils, which are low in saturated fat . It is believed that the high content of saturated fat in palm oil affects lipids in the blood.
It should be noted, however, that although the difference is statistically significant, it is practically insignificant. Other studies have examined the link between mortality from coronary heart disease in countries where palm oil is a major dietary source of saturated fat . The results of this study are that for every extra kilogram of palm oil consumed per capita per year, mortality from coronary heart disease increases by 68 deaths per 100,000. However, the study is observational in nature, which does not prove the relationship, and separately the result does not reach statistical significance.
In contrast, studies have found that adequate amounts of palm oil in a healthy diet do not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as those that consider carotene-rich crude palm oil to be present. health benefits in terms of antioxidants . There are also studies (5) showing that red palm oil has health benefits in reducing the risk of arterial thrombosis and / or atherosclerosis, as well as reducing oxidative stress and blood pressure.
This is due to the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fats, as well as the high concentration of antioxidants such as beta carotene, tocotrienols, tocopherols and vitamin E.
Our team wants to emphasize that more independent research is needed to look at the impact of palm oil on health.
A recent systematic review of the available literature shows that more data are needed and the available data cannot provide a definite answer for the safety of palm oil.
Application of palm oil
Palm oil is found in almost everything – it is found in about 50% of packaged products in supermarkets, is found as animal feed and is used in the production of biofuels.
World production of palm oil for 2016 is estimated at 62.6 million tons.
About 7.7 million tons of palm oil were used in the European Union in 2017 – 61% of them as energy (biofuels, heating) and 39% for the food industry, livestock and chemical products. Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil, followed by Malaysia and Nigeria.
Application in the food industry
Since the natural nature of palm oil is to be solid at room temperature, this makes it a cheap substitute for cow’s oil or hydrogenated vegetable oils where the fat is preferred to be solid – pasta, desserts. Palm oil is also used in animal husbandry – for feeding calves through milk replacers containing 30% milk powder, and the rest – skimmed milk powder, whey protein powder and vegetable fats in the form of coconut or palm oil. It can be found in pizza, instant spaghetti, ice cream, margarine, pastries, bread, chocolate.
Home application
Palm oil is used in shampoos, soaps, cosmetics – as lipsticks, body creams.
Application in the production of biofuels
Biofuel means all liquid, solid and gaseous fuels produced from biological raw materials, they are also found as a biofuel, ecological or eco fuel. Palm oil is used for the production of methyl ester and hydro-deoxygenated biodiesel.
Palm oil – help or disaster?
In the beginning it was believed that palm oil and its use in the life of mankind would be helpful, but is this really the case or is it all becoming a disaster?
Carbon emissions
At the beginning of the 21st century, Western nations, led by the United States, began promoting the use of vegetable oils in fuels – an ambitious move to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and limit global warming. Unfortunately, however, this plan was not drawn up on the real environmental consequences, and despite warnings that the policy could have the opposite effect, it has been put into practice, leading to a hitherto with severe global consequences.
Indonesia’s tropical rainforests, and in particular the peatlands of Borneo, contain large amounts of carbon in their trees and soil, and the deforestation and burning of existing forests to free up space for oil palms contributes to the opposite effect. get a lot more carbon. According to NASA researchers, the accelerated destruction of Borneo’s forests has contributed to the largest global increase in carbon emissions in 2 millennia. A catastrophe that makes Indonesia the world’s fourth largest source of such emissions.
Flora and fauna
As it became clear above, in order to meet the needs of the use of palm oil, it is necessary to increase the cultivation of palm trees, and this is done by deforestating some of the most biodiverse forests in the world to sow palm trees. In this way, the natural habitat of already endangered species such as orangutans, pygmy elephants and Sumatran rhinos is destroyed.
For the period 1999-2015, the demand for palm oil and unsustainable consumption of natural resources led to the death of 100,000 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus.
By 2050, it is estimated that another 45,300 orangutans will disappear along with the production of palm oil for the food and industrial industries.
What can be done?
The production of palm oil, as well as its use can not be prohibited however There is no stopping the need for ice cream, soap and semi-finished foods, as well as biofuels. And most of them need vegetable oil to be produced.
Let’s be realistic – palm oil has the highest productivity in the world. Its alternatives, such as sunflower oil, rapeseed oil or coconut oil, require up to 10 times the area to produce an equivalent amount. And this would lead to even more dangerous consequences for the environment. What can be done, however, is to reduce the use of palm oil in the home.
RSPO
In order to reduce the harmful effects of excessive production and use of palm oil, in 2004 RSPO – The Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil was created. It is a non-governmental organization that unites stakeholders in the sector related to the production and trade of palm oil. They have created a set of environmental and social criteria that companies must meet in order to produce certified and validated palm oil that does not harm nature and / or people.
Properly applied, the criteria can help to reduce the negative impact of palm oil production, both on the environment and on the palm oil-producing communities.
How can I contribute
Individually, each of us could contribute to lower palm oil consumption by doing at least one or more of the following:
-
Homemade food with clear ingredients whenever possible – so you are sure of the composition, and the choice of other vegetable and animal fats for cooking is great;
-
Read the labels of the products you buy and avoid / reduce the consumption of those containing palm oil;
-
When you can and where appropriate and applicable, walk, use bicycles or public transport;
-
Be informed and introduce your friends to the dark side of excessive consumerism;
-
If you still can’t avoid buying a palm oil product, you can look for ones that use Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Sources used :
- Global Demand for Natural Resources Eliminated More Than 100 000 Bornean Orangutans
- Rainforest-rescue.org
- Multi-Country analysis of palm oil consumption and cardiovascular disease mortality for countries at different stages of economic development: 1980-1997.
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