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Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the Oil palm tree. It is the second-most widely produced edible oil, after soybean oil.United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Statistics 2004. Table 3-51.
However, it may have now surpassed soybean oil as the most widely produced vegetable oil in the world. "The Malaysian oil palm industry recorded a mixed performance in 2005 due to the continued strong growth in production. The prices and export earnings dipped, despite an increase in exports of all oil palm products during the year. This also resulted in higher closing stocks for the year." (source: Malaysian Oil Palm Statistics 2005. Malaysian Palm Oil Board.)
Chemical composition
The palm fruit is the source of both palm oil and palm kernel oil. Palm oil, extracted from palm fruit flesh and palm kernel or seed oil are composed of fatty acids esterified with glycerol just like any ordinary fat. Both are high in saturated fatty acids. Saturated fat, also found in coconut oil, beef fat, and milk fat is alleged to correlate with an increased incidence of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. The oil palm gives its name to the 16 carbon saturated fatty acid palmitic acid found in palm oil; monosaturated oleic acid is also a constituent of palm oil while palm kernel oil contains mainly lauric acid. Palm oil is the largest natural source of tocotrienol, part of the Vitamin E family. Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils relatively high in saturated fats, though it is not as high in them as palm kernel oil.
The proximate concentration of fatty acids(fa) in palm oil is as follows: Saturated (fa): Myristic C14:0 1.0%, Palmitic C16:0 44.3, Stearic C18:0 4.6; Unsaturated(fa) Oleic C18:1 38.7, and Linoleic C18:2 10.5. For palm kernel oil the fatty acid content is: Saturated(fa) Caprylic C8:0 3.3%, Capric C10:0 3.4, Lauric C12:0 48.2, Myristic C14:0 16.2, Palmitic C16:0 8.4, Stearic C18:0 2.5; Unsaturated(fa) Oleic C18:1 15.3, and Linoleic C18:2 2.3. [2
Cultivation
The oil palm is a tropical palm tree. There are two species of oil palm, the better known one is te one originating from Guinea, Africa and was first illustrated by Nicholaas Jacquin in 1763, hence its name, Elaeis guineensis Jacq.
The fruit is reddish about the size of a large plum and grows in large bunches. A bunch of fruits can weigh between 10 to 40 kilograms each. Each fruit contains a single seed (the palm kernel) surrounded by a soft oily pulp. Oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (palm oil, an edible oil) and the kernel (palm kernel oil, used mainly for soap manufacture).
For every 100 kilograms of fruit bunches, typically 22 kilograms of palm oil and 1.6 kilograms of palm kernel oil can be extracted.
Palm oil itself is reddish and contains a high amount of carotenoids. It is used as cooking oil, to make margarine and is a component of many processed foods.
The palm fruit is the source of both palm oil and palm kernel oil. Palm oil, extracted from palm fruit flesh and palm kernel or seed oil are composed of fatty acids esterified with glycerol just like any ordinary fat. Both are high in saturated fatty acids. Ingestion of Saturated fat, also found in coconut oil, beef fat, and milk fat correlates with increased incidence of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. The oil palm gives its name to the 16 carbon saturated fatty acid palmitic acid found in palm oil; monosaturated oleic acid is also a constituent of palm oil while palm kernel oil contains mainly lauric acid. Palm oil is the largest natural source of tocotrienol, part of the Vitamin E family. Palm oil and palm kernel oil are one of the few vegetable oils relatively high in saturated fat.
The proximate concentration of fatty acids in palm oil is as follows: Myristic C14:0 1.0%, Palmitic C16:0 44.3, Stearic C18:0 4.6, Oleic C18:1 38.7, and Linoleic C18:2 10.5. For palm kernel oil the fatty acid content is: Caprylic C8:0 3.3%, Capric C10 3.4, Lauric C12:0 48.2, Myristic C14:0 16.2, Palmitic C16:0 8.4, Stearic C18:0 2.5, Oleic C18:1 15.3, and Linoleic C18:2 2.3. Ang, Catharina Y. W., KeShun Liu, and Yao-Wen Huang, eds. (1999). ''Asian Foods
Napalm derives its name from naphthenic acid, palmitic acid and pyrotechnics or simply from a recipe using naphtha and palm oil.
The high productivity of the Oil palm at producing oil (as high as 7,250 liters per hectare per year) has made it the prime source of vegetable oil for many tropical countries. It is also likely to be used for producing the necessary vegetable oil for biodiesel, an example being a planned refinery Darwin, Australia which will import the palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Oil palm originated in West Africa but has since been planted successfully in tropical regions within 20 degrees of the equator. There is evidence of palm oil use in Ancient Egypt.
In the Republic of the Congo, or Congo Brazzaville, precisely in the Northern part, not far from Ouesso, local people produce this oil by hand. They harvest the fruit, boil it to let the water part evaporate, then they press what its left in order to collect the reddish, orange colored oil.
The world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil today is Malaysia, producing about 47% of the world's supply of palm oil. Indonesia is the second largest world producer of palm oil producing approximately 36% of world palm oil volume. Both nations are expanding their palm oil production capacity and the market continues to grow.
Worldwide palm oil production during the 2002-2003 growing season was 30.5 million metric tons, of which 3.3 tons was in the form of palm kernel oil. It is thus by far the most widely-produced tropical oil, and constitutes thirty percent of total edible oil production worldwide.
Environmental and cultural impact
Demand for palm oil is rising and is expected to climb further, particularly for use in biodiesel. Biodiesel is promoted as a form of renewable energy that greatly reduces net emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and therefore its use is being touted as a way to decrease the impact of the greenhouse effect and also the possibility of peak oil.
However, there is increasing concern from environmental and other NGOs about the social and environmental impacts of the palm oil industry. Rainforests are being cleared to make room for the plantations, thus reducing the habitat for some threatened species, such as the orangutan (on Borneo and Sumatra). The resulting plantations are often run by agribusiness, and locals in places such as West Papua and Kalimantan are missing out on jobs to migrant workers.
Orangutan experts around the world have unified to recognise that continued unsustainable development of the palm oil sector is the single greatest threat to the future of orangutans in the wild. The best professional estimates state that if the industry is not regulated then within 12 years we may witness the disappearance of orangutans from the wild. Other species that are critically threatened by palm oil expansion into their remaining ranges include the Sumatran tiger and rhinoceros.
Palm Oil as Biodiesel
The Malaysian government is refocusing the use of palm oil to the production of biodiesel to cater for the huge demands from European countries; it has encouraged the building of biodiesel plants. This is due to the higher prices of fuel and increasing demand for alternatives sources of energy in the Western world.
The plants, which will start operating middle of next year and produce 100,000 tonnes of biodiesel annually. Strong demand for biodiesel from Europe as well as Colombia, India, South Korea and Turkey was fuelling the industry's growth, as more countries sought to reduce their reliance on oil.
Malaysia has already begun preparations to change from diesel to bio-fuels by 2008, including drafting legislation that will make the switch mandatory. From 2007, all diesel sold in Malaysia must contain 5 % palm oil. Being the world's largest producer of crude palm oil, Malaysia intends to take advantage of the rush in finding cleaner fuels.
With the growth of emphasis on biodiesels presenting a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels its important to recognise that these benefits are partly negated when forest is cleared to make room for biodiesel crops such as oil palm. NGOs are now alerting the international arena to the fact that despite millions of hectares of land standing unplanted in Indonesia there is still clearance of tropical hardwood forest for palm oil plantations. Furthermore, as the remaining unprotected lowland forest dwindles, developers are looking to peat swamp for conversion, which causes a draining of the peat and this not only unlocks the carbon in the surface covering of trees, but begins an oxidation process of the carbon in the peat reserves which can be between 5,000 to 10,000 years worth of carbon locked into the ground. Drained peat is also at very high risk of forest fire, and there is a clear record of fire being used to clear vegetation for palm oil development in Indonesia.
Health
Among the touted health benefits of palm oil, most notably red palm oil, are:
- Rich in betacarotenes, especially red palm oil.
- High in tocotrienols, an antioxidant with other possible health benefits
- Other minor nutrients
Palm oil contained about 10% linoleic acid, which is an unsaturated omega-6 fatty acid. Linoleic acid is one of the two essential fatty acids that humans require. Palm oil also contains small amounts of squalene (possible cholesterol lowering and anti-cancer properties) and ubiquinone (energy booster).
- Red palm oil is rich in co-enzyme Q10
Reasons for choosing palm oil:
• Palm oil is an excellent dietary energy source. • Palm oil is a very rich source of Vitamin A and E. • Palm oil’s fatty acids are well balanced. • Palm oil is free from harmful trans-fatty acids. • Palm oil is a stable oil in high temperature (good for frying). • Palm oil may inhibit cancer growth. • Palm oil is a cheap vegetable oil (due to the oil palm's high productivity).
Palm oil and blood cholesterol controversy
For many years now, it has been established that the primary cholesterol-elevating fatty acids are the saturated fatty acids with 12 (lauric acid), 14 (myristic acid) and 16 (palmitic acid) carbon atoms with a concomitant increase in the risk of coronary heart disease. Monosaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid is as effective in reducing serum total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels as polyunsaturated fatty acids such as alpha-linoleic acid. Vessby,B.1994. INFORM 5(2):182-185. The World Health Organization in its reportDiet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (WHO Technical Report Series 916. Geneva. 2003. pages 82, 88 &c) states there is convincing evidence that palmitic oil consumption contributes to an increased risk of developing of cardiovascular diseases.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest campaigns against the use of palm oil partly on health grounds. Its publication, Cruel Oil: How Palm Oil Harms Health, Rainforest & Wildlife (PDF) cites studies that showed the palmitic acid in palm oil raised blood cholesterol. It states, "palm oil is somewhat more harmful than the average U.S. dietary fat and far more harmful than such liquid oils as olive, soy, and canola".
While it is well known that high blood cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk for heart disease, many scientific studies have shown that there is only a weak relationship between the amount of cholesterol a person consumes and their blood cholesterol levels or risk for heart disease. In a study of over 80,000 female nurses, researchers in Harvard University (Hu, et al, 1999) actually found that increasing cholesterol intake by 200 mg for every 1000 calories in the diet (about an egg a day) did not significantly increase the risk for heart disease.
ref: Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Rimm EB, et al. 1999. A prospective study of egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women. JAMA. 281:1387-94. cited in Harvard School of Public Health. 2006. Fats and Oils. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats.html
A study by a group of researchers in China comparing palm, soybean, peanut oils and lard showed that palm oil actually increased the levels of good cholesterol and reduced the levels of bad cholesterol in the blood (Zhang, et al, 1995, 1997 cited by Koh ,2006). A study by Hornstra in 1990, as well as many reports in recent journals also showed similar results. As will be seen in later chapters (?? of what?), certain components of palm oil have also been reported to reduce blood cholesterol levels.
ref:Hornstra, 1990 `Effects of dietary lipids on some aspects of the cardiovascular risk profile'. In G. Ziant *, LIPIDS AND HEALTH.
Koh, C.S. 2006. Comments On Draft Document: Diet, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity
Due to its relatively higher saturated fat content compared with many other vegetable oils, palm oil has always been associated with increasing blood cholesterol levels. Sure, there is 50% saturated fats in palm oil (which helps make it a stable oil), but one bite of chocolate, or one serving of ice cream has SEVERAL TIMES the saturated fat content of any processed food made using palm oil. However, for someone who wants to reduce his intake of saturated fat in the belief that it increases blood cholesterol level, it would make much better sense to eliminate meat, egg, milk or butter altogether in his diet rather than for him to avoid using palm oil, and pay a fortune buying expensive vegetable oils, which do not present a very big difference in fat content anyway (after all, they are all vegetable oils!). The need to avoid saturated fats in palm oil had only led to the switching to even riskier oil substitutes, such as polyunsaturated vegetable oils in and the 80’s, and partially-hydrogenated oils, as discovered recently by shocked American consumers.
References
Social and environmental palm oil links
- Orangutan Film Protection Project
- Roundatable on Sustainable Palm Oil
- Friends of the Earth
- Website from the author of The Oil for Ape Scandal
- Palm Oil page from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
Other palm oil links
- Palm Oil - Production, Consumption, Exports, and Imports Statistics by Country
- American Palm Oil Council
- Malaysian palm oil board
- Physical properties of palm oil
- Colombian website (Fedepalma) on palm oil
- Roundtable on Sustainable Palmoil
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