Bella Adams
Many people believe that consuming palm oil can be harmful to health, but this is not entirely true. We will try to figure out what the main harms and benefits of this product are.
Palm oil production
Today, Malaysia is the main producer and supplier of palm oil to the world market. More than 17 billion liters of oil palm products are produced annually in this country.
The volume of the fishery is impressive, given that more than five tons of fruit need to be processed to produce one ton of this vegetable fat.
First, the “bunches” of palm nuts, which grow at a height of several tens of meters, are manually removed with knives on very long sticks. Each bunch is covered with sharp spikes and weighs about 30 kilograms. Then the bunches are sent to the production facility and processed: sterilized with steam, peeled from the shells, and pressed with a press to produce red palm oil.
The benefits of palm oil
The rich color of palm oil is due to the high content of natural carotene contained in the wood fibers of the fruit, it contains most of the nutrients: tocopherols, tocotrienols, coenzyme Q10, vitamins E and A. Like any other vegetable oil, it does not contain cholesterol.
Palm oil is resistant to the formation of trans fats when heated, and even earlier it was used in confectionery production, but on a small scale. The secret of palm oil’s popularity today is simple: it does not affect the taste of food because it has no taste or smell, and its production is cost-effective – oil palms produce two harvests a year without much care. Today, palm oil is used to make special cooking fats that are widely used in confectionery as milk fat substitutes and cocoa butter equivalents.
The dangers of palm oil
The main argument about the harm of palm oil is the high percentage of saturated fat, which leads to the development of cardiovascular diseases. The maximum daily portion of palm oil is 80 grams, but this is provided that you have not eaten other foods containing fatty acids: cream, meat, eggs, chocolate, and lard.
Use in the chemical industry
85% of Malaysian palm oil is used in the food industry, and only 15% is used in the chemical industry.
Palm oil is used to make soap, shampoo, cosmetics, lubricants, and even biofuels. Many well-known cosmetic companies add palm oil to creams for dry skin and body lotions.
