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Palm Oil - A Checkered Past. A Bright Future(Link)
Doughnuts, cookies, cakes and pizza crusts have it. Even chewing gum has it. It is palm oil, and its application and use is as wide as its checkered past.
Cholesterol
The late 1980s saw a general trend of increased public awareness of the negative health effects of saturated fats, with most of this awareness coalescing around the tropical oils. This group of edible oils – coconut and palm kernel oils – as well as palm, or palm fruit, oil, were the target of elevated health concerns. Palm oil all but completely disappeared in the United States.
Individuals in the food industry came to the defense of palm oil, feeling it was singled out. The concern of cholesterol’s effect on the heart was being looked at too broadly, as opposed to the ratio of HDL to LDL (High Density Lipoproteins to Low Density Lipoproteins) attributes that differ in oils.
Over time, a more balanced assessment of the properties of palm oil, both positive and negative reached the public consciousness. Palm oil contains less saturated fat that other tropical oils, and is free of the current buzzword among oil properties – trans fat.
As methods of fractioning and re-fractioning the oil were discovered, a library of 10 different palm oils was devised. It can be blended and transformed to suit a variety of product needs, so trans fats are essentially rendered obsolete.
Nutrition
Derived from a tropical plant (Elaesis guineensis) that tends to grow abundantly in tropical zones, Palm oil is believed to be the second-most commonly harvested edible oil behind soybean oil. Because of the saturates of palm oil, it is often compared to hydrogenated oils and therefore those oils’ trans fatty acids (TFA).
Trans fats have received increased attention as late in the growing debate over their potential association with the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease. This debate became an even hotter issue once the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated a change to the ubiquitous nutrition label by adding the level of trans fat in a particular product.
A study published in the October 2002 Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that palm oil has a more favorable place in a diet than other TFA containing oils such as partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Another study in a 1992 Journal of the American College of Nutrition suggests that palm oil’s effect on blood cholesterol may be close the effect of olive oil.
Alternatives to Trans Fatty Acids (TFAs)
Palm Oil accounts for 28% of all vegetable oils consumed globally. While its use is quite rare in the United States, it is used throughout the rest of the world in the same way and in the same volume as soybean oil. However, there are companies in the U.S. lobbying for change, calling for a ‘renaissance’ of palm oil to act as a replacement for hydrogenated oils. But how can this be accomplished?
The best way to encourage consumers to steer their habits towards the healthier end of the spectrum, staple items made with wholly or partially hydrogenated oils must be reformulated without the loss of taste or sensory perception. For example baked and fried products are dependent upon a solid-fat profile that is necessary for their functionality and taste. Palm oil is a choice substitute.
A clear advantage of 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. Aeration is the important quality in baking – meaning palm oil traps air with great efficiency. What does that mean? It means that cookies become crumbly and breads have that ‘fresh’ texture. With palm oil, a light texture is inherent throughout the baking process.
There are a narrow range of fats that can be used to give baked goods their specific flavor profile and texture, as well as an oil that can be used over and over again for frying. That’s what you get with palm oil.
References
Schultz, Martin. A Look at Palm Oil.
Food Product Design. March 2007. Pps. 17-18.
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