Palm oil is used in everything from cookies and cakes to pizza crust and margarine. It excels at giving donuts their unique textural and flavor attributes. It is even incorporated into chewing gum. Palm oil has a long history of use in frying and baking all over the world. Yet, despite its universal application, palm oil has had a checkered past.

Cholesterol concerns

During the 1980s, as public awareness of the harmful effects of saturated fats grew, U.S. consumer resistance coalesced around a single group of edible oils: the tropical oils. These included the high-saturate coconut and palm kernel oils, as well as palm oil, or palm fruit oil as it is sometimes called.

The result was that palm oil practically disappeared from the U.S. market. Many in the food industry contended that palm oil had been unfairly singled out. The problem was that scientists were focused solely on the overall effect of cholesterol on the heart, instead of taking a more reasoned look at the critical ratio of HDL to LDL attributes that differ from oil to oil, says Gerald McNeill, Ph.D, vice president of R&D and marketing, Loders Croklaan, Channahon, IL.

In time, a somewhat more rational view of palm oils various positive and negative attributes prevailed, as palm oil contains much less less saturated fat than other tropical oils (92% in palm kernel oil and 82% in coconut oil) plus the actual fatty-acid composition is different and, even more important in the current debate over healthy vs. unhealthy oils, no trans fat.

Palm oil is a much healthier oil and more versatile than other saturated fats, McNeill points out. We have fractionated palm oil and refractionated the fractions until we now have 10 different kinds of fractionated palm oil, he says. The point is that we can blend and transform this oil into an unlimited range of products to match any attribute of the partially hydrogenated oils. In other words, you dont need to use trans fats anymore. Palm oil works just as well, if not better.

Nutritional profile

Palm oil is derived from a tropical plant (Elaesis guineensis) that tends to grow profusely in tropical zones, particularly on the Asian continent. It is among Malaysias leading cash crops. It is believed to be the second-most commonly harvested edible oil (soybean oil is the first).

Because of its saturates, the health effect of palm oil is often compared to hydrogenated oils and their trans fatty acids (TFAs) in the current debate over eliminating trans fat from fried and baked products. Trans fats have been the focus of attention ever since they were associated with increased cardiovascular disease. This negative notice was intensified when FDA mandated that food labels indicate the level of trans fat in the product.

Several studies, including those published in the October 2002 issue of Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that dietary palm oil has a potentially more favorable dietary impact than TFAcontaining fats, such as partially-hydrogenated soybean oil, especially as part of a moderate-fat diet. One 1992 study (Palmitic and oleic acid exert similar effects on serum lipid profile in normocholestrolemic humans, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 11:383-390) indicates palm oils effect on blood cholesterol levels might be similar to olive oils. Other researchers point to the antioxidant benefits of palm oils tocotrienols (form of vitamin E).

TFA alternatives

Although use of palm oil remains fairly rare in the United States, elsewhere it is employed in much the same ways and at similar levels as soybean oil. Palm oil and soybean oil each account for about 28% of all vegetable oils consumed globally. In Europe, for example, 8 billion pounds of palm oil find their way into the kitchens of restaurants, foodservice and private homes. Loders Croklaan, as well as other palm-oil-producing and -marketing companies, such as ADM, Decatur, IL, and Bunge Corporation, St. Louis, are eagerly pushing for the U.S. renaissance of palm oil as a replacement for hydrogenated oils.

To encourage consumers to exchange their dietary regimes for more healthy choices requires that staple foods made with partially or fully hydrogenated fats be successfully reformulated without loss of taste and sensory perception. Baked goods and fried products, for example, require a solid-fat profile that is critical for their functionality and taste. Accepting that the functional stars and health culprits are TFAs, the most-available substitute able to handle the functional and flavor attributes on present evidence are ingredients with saturated fats, such as palm oil.

Palm oil is a naturally stable fat with a profile that is made up of 50% saturated fat and 50% monounsaturated fat. Well-endowed with both saturated palmitic (44%) and monounsaturated oleic (39%) fatty acids, palm oil also contains ample quantities of polyunsaturated linoleic acid (10%). According to the American Palm Oil Council, Torrance, CA, The literature suggests that both stearic acid and palmitic acid, which comprise virtually all the saturated fats in palm oil, have neutral to favorable impact on serum lipid profiles compared to lauric and myristic acid.

Given its composition, palm oil has been refractionated into a variety of formulations, including liquid oil and palm olein, which contains 44% oleic acid, 10% linoleic acid, 40% palmitic acid and 5% stearic acid.

One oft-cited advantage for palm oil is its ability to form the stable beta-prime crystal necessary for a fine structure in margarines and in shortenings used for baking.

What palm oil provides in baking is the all-important quality of aeration, McNeill notes. Just as with trans fat, palm oil traps air extremely efficiently. This gives cookies their crumbly attribute, and bread its fresh texture. You get a nice, light texture, which is retained through the baking process.

There are a narrow range of fats that can be used to give baked goods their specific attributes in terms of texture and taste, McNeill continues. We like cookies with a crumbly texture and bread with a nice crust and donuts with just the right filling, or a frying oil that can take the high temperature and be used over and over again. Thats what you get with palm oil.

Martin Schultz is an experienced consumer and trade magazine writer with a special interest in food and food-technology topics. He can be contacted at [email protected].