Palm Oil & Cholesterol

With a history that dates back thousands of years, palm oil has found its way into a wide variety of food products. Many cultures consume it as a vegetable cooking oil, and food manufacturers prize it for its qualities and the shelf life it adds to their products. Yet, palm oil's reputation as a cholesterol-boosting oil often casts a shadow on its popularity.

Description

Also known as Elaeis guineensis, the African oil palm belongs to the same botanical family as coconut and date palms. Information from the University of Georgia indicates that it produces a fleshy fruit that yields two distinct oils: palm oil from the fruit and palm kernel oil from the seed or pit. Palm oil is a vegetable oil; therefore it does not contain cholesterol.

Composition

The University of Georgia reports that, for every 100 grams of edible portion, palm oil consists of 99.1 percent fats. Further precision from the America Palm Oil Council indicates that palm oil has a balanced mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Indeed, palm olein, the liquid part of the oil, reportedly contains 44 percent and 10 percent of unsaturated oleic acid and linoleic acid, respectively; The remaining fat content consists of 40 and 5 percent of saturated palmitic and stearic acids, respectively.

Fats and Cholesterol Transport

Because cholesterol and fats cannot dissolve in liquids, your body packages them into carrier molecules called lipoproteins. The major lipoproteins include: low-density lipoproteins, or LDL; high-density lipoproteins, or HDL; and triglycerides. HDL has protective effects because it scavenges and carries cholesterol away from your blood vessels for degradation through the liver. LDL, on the other hand, carries cholesterol to your blood vessels and organs. Known as bad cholesterol, it contributes to plaque deposition in blood vessels and is associated with heart disease risk. LDL typically accounts for most of your blood cholesterol levels.

Effects

Saturated fats contain carbon atoms that are saturated with hydrogen atoms. You may recognize them as the proverbial “bad fats” that remain solid at room temperature. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, saturated fats raise total blood cholesterol by raising LDL, or bad cholesterol. However, the fact that palm oil also contains unsaturated fats may mitigate its overall effects. Indeed, the America Palm Oil Council reports animal studies showing palm oil's ability to actually lower blood cholesterol levels.

Mechanism

LDL contains about 80 percent fat, of which 50 percent is made of cholesterol, according to scientist Pamela Champe. In contrast, HDL consists of 55 percent fats, of which 25 percent is cholesterol. Most blood cholesterol occurs in an esterified form, that is, attached to fatty acids. Your body incorporates the saturated fatty acids you ingest into cholesterol esters, which form part of the LDL particles. The cholesterol esters in HDL differ in that they contain unsaturated fatty acids. Thus, high levels of saturated fats, or low levels of unsaturated fats, can elevate blood cholesterol.

Considerations

Even though your body can produce the cholesterol and saturated fats it needs, a true "zero fat" diet is unrealistic. The type of fats you eat is more important than their amount, says the Harvard School of Public Health. Although saturated fats are bad, on an ounce-for-ounce basis, trans fats are far worse, particularly when it comes to heart disease risk. Studies agree that it is best to favor unsaturated fats over all other types.

Other Nutrients

Palm oil offers much more than fats, according to the Palm Oil Truth Foundation. Indeed, it also supplies such important nutrients as antioxidants, CoQ10, phytosterols, glycolipids, more than 10 carotenes, as well as E vitamins known as tocopherols and tocotrienols.