Palm Oil

[Morgan]

Hi, was wondering if anyone has information or opinions on palm oil............. is it good or bad?
Thanks
Morgan x

[CLTann]

Palm oil is a highly saturated oil, much like coconut oil. It is not good oil for us.

[ita]

Hi everyone,

Sorry about the slight hijack of the thread but how about marine phytoplankton? Anyone know anything about this?

Gricel

[Jackie07]

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...spirulina.html

Found this page on the National Library of Medicine site of National Institute of Health. Look under the synonym, you will find the supplement's name is the same as 'spirulina'.

[ita]

Thank you. I should probably pass it by my oncologist just to be on the safe side.

Ita (Gricel)

[Becky]

http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...ht=coconut+oil

Here is a thread by RB that does touted the important significance of having some palm and coconut oils in the diet. As Ann said, they are saturated fats but they are plant derived saturated fats versus animal derived.

All things in moderation. I think you might find more if you use the search mechanism and perhaps RB will respond as well

[Mary Jo]

What about sunflower oil?

[Becky]

Sunflower oil is a polyunsaturated fat that is an Omega 6 fatty acid. I would stay away from it as well as Corn Oil and mixed vegetable oil.

[Ginagce]

I avoid palm oil whenever I can. Not because it's a saturated fat but because of where it is farmed.

Indonesia, specifically Borneo, is one of the major exporters of palm oil these days. And to farm it, migrants from Java and elsewhere in Indo plow supposedly protected land, that has been set aside by their government specifically to protect the endangered Orangutans!

Borneo is the last of only two places on earth that house Orangutans, one of the four Great Ape species. Experts predict that if habitat continues to be destroyed at the current rate, these marvelous creatures could be extinct in as little as 20 years.

So, please, stay away from palm oil.

It's not good for you either!

Ginagce

[hutchibk]

good info, Gin!

[Morgan]

Thanks Becky, I will check the link.
Ginagce, I do try to avoid palm oil as much as possible for the reasons you gave but find it hard to avoid completely as it is in so many organic products instead of vegetable oil.
Marejo, definately no sunflower oil!

[R.B.]

Hi all,

Morgan can you be more specific in your question and why you want to include palm oil.

Complicated as ever.

In my post I suggested including a little coconut - I made no comment on palm oil.

There are two sorts of palm oil, palm kernel and palm oil. Palm kernel oil has a very different profile from palm oil.

Butter and beef fat contains the same mid length fats if in a different mix as palm oil (butter also contains some very short fats).

Palm kernel contains shorter fats found in coconut and to a much lesser extent butter.

Industrial palm oil/ palm kernel is heavily processed.

Moderate amounts of saturates are necessary to health but they have to be looked at in the round from all sources.

An imbalance of Omega 3 and 6 is an identified risk for BC see http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...ght=greek+diet

Sunflower like most common vegetable oils is high in Omega 6. See nutritiondata.com




Sustainability
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_oil

Bio fuel and soaps are big drivers of production, which are more difficult to identify in the purchasing chain.

If you are an orang you are probably more concerned at the loss of your home than what it is going to be ultimately used for.

[Morgan]

Thanks R.B, I don't particulary want to include palm oil. I don't really eat processed foods but have noticed that the organic oatcakes and cereal bars I sometimes eat have palm oil in them and just wondered if it was "good or bad"

[R.B.]

Good or bad.

In strict moderation I would put delicately treated palm oil as neutral to negative. It has about 10% omega 6 and no Omega 3, but as positive in so far as it is used to replace high Omega 6 sources / trans fats etc where fat use is unavoidable eg baking.

I have not found much information on the organic plant compounds that may also be found in oils, but there are several suggestions of significant amounts of antioxidants and vitamin E but there is always the danger of these being diminished in treatment.

Palm oil rich in plant compounds is suggested in trial to have antiinflammatroy properties. But we may be talking red unrefined palm oil here which is high in carotenoids.

There is suggestion that heated palm oil may have negative heatlh effects, but this was at 15% of diet and heating 10 times

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

"Fresh palm oil has no deleterious effects on blood pressure and cardiac tissue but prolonged consumption of repeatedly heated palm oil may result in an increase in blood pressure level with necrosis of cardiac tissue.".

When used to replace a high six oil like soy providing they have not been heated more than once they offer a better health risk profile

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17704019?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez. Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.P ubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=3&log$=relatedarticles& logdbfrom=pubmed

"These oils were mixed with rat chow at weight ratio of 15:100 and were given to the rats daily for six months. Ovariectomy had caused negative effects on the bone histomorphometric parameters. Ingestion of both fresh and once-heated oils, were able to offer protections against the negative effects of ovariectomy, but these protections were lost when the oils were heated five times. Soy oil that was heated five times actually worsens the histomorphometric parameters of ovariectomised rats. Therefore, it may be better for postmenopausal who are at risk of osteoporosis to use palm oil as frying oil especially if they practice recycling of frying oils."

[fullofbeans]

What about avocado oil and macadamian oil to use in our kitchen is that a good choice (on top of olive oil and flax seed unfortunatly do not like taste of flax oil and it cannot be cooked..).

Also there is lots of rapeseed/canola oil in food that can be bought is that a good choice to go for these? even if these have been heated/fryied?

[R.B.]

Thanks Full of Beans that is a useful question and observation. I suspect you already know most of the answer (-:.

Thank you


Monosaturates / saturates are better for cooking so Macademia is probably best followed by olive and avocado BUT cooking is going to destroy some of the plant compounds which protect the fruit on the tree and have in olive oil be associated with a range of benefits.

Macadamia has a better Omega 3 :6 balance, where Olive and Advocado are about 10%, but Olive oil has been more extensively trialled.

All oils are high in calories and in nature access would be restricted. So how much is ideal we dont know, but the body will survive on quite low levels of Omega 6 some say 1% calories some a 1/2% and some lower, at 9 cals to a gram of oil and 70% of that in say sunflower being Omega 6 you are looking at under a teaspoon of sunflower. People including GG Pique who wrote a book OMEGA-6 EXCESS POLYUNSATURATE FOLLY 20 years ago suggests that maybe 8 or 9 grams a day is the level at which Omega 6 starts to have a negative influence but I have not as yet found the trials.


Canola has about 20% Omega 6 and 10% Omega 3 (which are both polyunsaturates and so more heat sensitive) so is arguably not good for high temperature cooking. Also some suggest that the treatment processes may cause some damage to the oils. Cold pressed canola is starting to make an appearance.

Different people hold different views.
http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com....la-oil-healthy