Palm Oil Effects on Health

Never demonize food but instead use good common sense. Everything is good and everything can be harmful. It depends on the quantity, age, physical activity, the place where you live, and lifestyle, I have written on this several times. Yet, the full scale campaign against palm oil continues. A lot of things have been said, creating great confusion. Here is the information, gathered through readings and meetings of researchers and doctors in Malaysia.

What is the composition.
Palm oil, derived from the oil palm fruit, has basically 40-45% saturated fat (palmitic acid), 39-40% fatty acids (oleic acid) and 10-11 % fatty acids (linoleic acid). The palmitic acid is the main saturated fat in meat, olive oil, breast milk (accounting for 25% of the fat), and dairy products such as cream, cheese, butter.

Ingredient watch: Eight feel-good reasons why palm oil is in foods

If you’re a label reader, you may be seeing more palm oil in your favourite food products. In the United States, most of the palm oil comes from Malaysia. There are many reasons why food manufacturers are choosing this versatile and tropical-sounding ingredient. Read on to learn why palm oil is in foods such as pizza, bread, peanut butter, candy and granola bars.

Palm oil is naturally trans fat-free. Trans fats (aka partially hydrogenated oils) are associated with increased risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Many food manufacturers have swapped trans fats with Malaysian certified sustainable palm oil.
Palm oil is non-GMO. A rapidly increasing number of shoppers are looking for products made without genetically modified ingredients. Unlike most soybean, canola and corn oils, Malaysian palm oil is non-GMO.

This Vitamin Can Save Your Brain

vitamin-repair-brain-damage

Your brain has amazing abilities. And it can heal itself.

That’s not something you’re likely to hear from mainstream medicine — especially if you or a loved one suffer from the effects of stroke, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or another form of dementia.

Here at the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine, I’ve seen many people with brain damage. And, sadly, most have been deemed “hopeless” by so-called medical experts.

But I can tell you there is nothing hopeless about dementia — no matter what its cause. With the right nutrients, there are times when brain damage can be reversed.

And now recent research from a university in Malaysia backs up what I’ve observed for years in my own clinic.

These new studies show that one, special vitamin not only prevents brain damage, but it can help repair it.

I’m talking about an overlooked form of vitamin E called tocotrienols.

True Value of Palm Oil

Dr Jean Graille, a world renowned biotechnology expert who focuses on fats and lipids, completed his studies at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Marseille [National Chemical Engineering Institute of Marseilles]. He began working as a researcher at the Institut des Corps Gras [Institute for Fats and Oils] before continuing his career in the Agribusiness Programme of CIRAD, where he managed the team for ‘Food and Non-Food Substances – Lipid Technology Sciences’. Dr Graille won the Chevreul medal in 1997 and went on to receive the Kaufmann Prize in 1999 – the first French person to do so. In an interview, he dismantles the myths perpetuated by the anti-palm oil lobby in France, and issues the timely reminder that there is no justification to avoid the use of this important product.

Slide Show: Tocotrienols as Natural Neuroprotective Vitamins

Vitamin E is essential for normal neurological function, and antioxidant defenses are crucial to the brain to protect neural tissues from oxidative damage. Therefore, the majority of available research on the role of antioxidants has drawn much interest. This slide show, adapted from chapter 26 of CRC Press’ e-book, “Tocotrienols,” will explore the various forms of vitamin E, and its role in maintaining neurological structure and function.

APCRC – Q part of New Gamma-Tocotrienol Study

The Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre – Queensland, the University of Hong Kong, and Davos researchers have found that gamma-tocotrienol is potent in killing prostate cancer stem cells.

The study, partly led by the APCRC – Q’s Dr Patrick (Ming-Tat) Ling, aims to find a way to eradicate these stem cells. The latest findings showcase the potential of gamma-tocotrienol as a natural remedy for preventing and treating prostate cancer.

Beyond Fish Oil: How to Lower Triglycerides Naturally with Tocotrienols

Decades of research utilizing alpha tocopherol, just one of the eight naturally occurring vitamin E compounds, has produced mixed results and has underwhelmed medical researchers who had high hopes for this potent antioxidant. But the new vitamin E kid on the block—tocotrienols—is putting vitamin E back in the spotlight. If you have stubbornly high triglycerides and are wondering how to lower triglycerides naturally using supplements beyond fish oil, tocotrienols might be the answer.

Rising demand for Malaysian palm oil due to health and sustainability

Natural, non-GMO, sustainably produced and balanced fat composition : These are all words increasingly used to describe Malaysian sustainable palm oil. According to a Credit Suisse financial analysis, this versatile oil is expected to become much more prevalent in the coming years. The Malaysian Palm Oil Council had long advocated this stance and agrees with this projection. We estimate demand for Malaysian palm oil to increase by 2030 in line with the Credit Suisse projections. The worldwide interest in healthy, natural fats and the global recognition of Malaysia’s sustainable palm oil industry are part of the reasons for this potential increase in its usage.

Battling pancreatic, lung cancer with palm oil

The word “ordinary” never had a place in his vocabulary. He was brilliant, passionate and inspiring. And his death shocked the world. In October 2011, Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. Though it is only the twelfth most common cancer in the world, pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of them all. According to the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research in the United States, 94 per cent of pancreatic cancer patients will die within five years of diagnosis and only 7 per cent will survive more than five years.

Advantage Palm Oil, as US Bans Trans Fats

A decision made thousands of kilometres from Malaysia – in the offices of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – could have profound consequences for the future of the palm oil industry.

The FDA has decided to ban partially hydrogenated vegetable oils by 2018, due to their worrying levels of trans fats content. Trans fats have been widely regarded by scientists as a major negative factor for health and well-being.

Palm oil does not contain trans fats. Its beneficial and adaptable composition means that it does not require partial hydrogenation. It can serve the same purpose in food manufacture, but without health negatives. It is therefore a natural and healthy replacement for liquid oils.