Researchers at Limburg University in the Netherlands, who replaced the fat in traditional Dutch dishes with palm oil, found that the LDL/HDL ratio decreased. This ratio is a measure of heart disease. The results of this study were published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 1972. It showed that palm oil consumption reduced bad cholesterol by 80% and increased good cholesterol by 11%.
Other studies have confirmed these findings. In China, lard and peanut oil are traditionally used in Chinese cuisine. The Beijing Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, found that people who ate palm oil had less total cholesterol and LDL in their blood than those who ate lard. When they compared the efficacy of palm oil with peanut oil for men and women with high cholesterol, they found that those who consumed palm oil significantly reduced their total cholesterol and LDL levels, but in the case of peanut oil, the effect was not as pronounced.
Palm oil does not contain trans fats
Trans fats are created by adding hydrogen to turn liquid oils into solid fats, which extends storage time. Trans fats are harmful to health, and the medical school at the National Science Agency considers even trace amounts to be harmful. Trans fats have been found in studies to raise LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol. Trans fats are strongly associated with diabetes type 2 (not caused by insulin), which is now a serious health problem in the world.
Trans fats have also been reported to cause heart disease and cancer. in 1994, the Harvard University Department of Nutrition and Infectious Diseases reviewed a number of studies on the relationship between trans fats and heart disease, and came to the following conclusions: while it is not clear how many deaths from heart disease in the United States are attributable to the consumption of trans fats and oils, the lowest estimate is that more than three hundred thousand deaths per year are attributable to eating hydrogenated vegetable oils and fats, and the lowest estimate is that more than two hundred thousand deaths per year are caused by eating trans fats and oils. hydrogenated vegetable oils, and the number may be even higher when non-fatal coronary heart disease is added.
If a product undergoes the hydrogenation process, it is likely to contain trans fats, so the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mandated labeling of products involving trans fats and oils. The law went into effect in 2006.
Denmark and Canada followed suit. In Denmark, the law prohibits the sale of products with more than 2 percent trans fats. Canadian legislation requires food producers to minimize trans fats and oils.
Consumers are urged to cook and bake bread with oils that do not contain trans fats. Palm oil is a naturally trans-free vegetable oil. Because palm oil itself is a natural semi-solid fat, it does not have to go through a hydrogenation process, so there is no problem of trans fats being produced. The storage time for products made from palm oil is inherently quite long and its stability is very strong, therefore, the product is not easy to deteriorate.