Palm oil in human nutrition: recent advances.

In this era of information technology and strategic advances in molecular based sciences, one would have expected the knowledge of fats, fatty acids and their association with diseases to have been wrapped up in a package, neat and simple enough to win the confidence of consumers. Yet, fats the much-touted macronutrient, continues to taunt humans, demonstrating various physiological effects that puzzle and fascinate the scientific world. Despite these advances, fats and fatty acids are somehow deemed synonymous with their postulated effects on plasma cholesterol and risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). The consumer has been goaded to think of and to classify fats in terms of the good and bad with respect to CHD. Yet, there is really no such thing as a good or bad fat. In reality their health properties are a function of a multitude of effects that make up the foods we consume daily. Palm oil continues to be a major dietary fat in the diets of many populations around the world, yet manages to be featured as one of the most misunderstood of the dietary fats. Luckily, some of these misconceptions are the subject of intense scientific scrutiny and the International Palm Oil Congress (PIPOC) provides a regular platform for the deliberation of the latest findings on palm oil nutrition. The supplement in this issue highlights some important advances in our understanding of palm oil effects in human nutrition. KC Hayes reviews the human studies available on palm oil and palm olein and traces the possibility of formulating the ideal balance among dietary fatty acids using a palm oil base. Saturated fatty acids continue to be viewed as the culprit responsible for increasing total and LDL-cholesterol, which translates as increased risk for heart disease. Despite this adverse blanketing of saturated fatty acids in human health, there is increasing awareness that not all saturates are equally cholesterol elevating. For example stearic acid is currently considered neutral and efforts are ongoing to similarly position palmitic acid, the major saturated fatty acid in palm products. French et · al. (Canada) reported that stable isotope studies in humans suggest that when there is sufficient linoleic acid available in the diet, palmitic acid fails to exert a cholesterol raising effect, providing credibility to the hypothesis that palmitic can function as a neutral fatty acid. Atherosclerosis, which leads to the formation of fatty plaques in the arteries and ultimately constricts blood …