The Palm Pod
Planting the seeds of change, one pod at a time. Join us at The Palm Pod for engaging discussions, expert insights, and industry updates on sustainable palm oil, guiding consumers and businesses to make better choices for the people, planet and prosperity. This podcast is brought to you by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - a global partnership to make palm oil sustainable.
The Palm Pod
Episode 16 - Palm Oil: Healthy or Harmful? Behind the World’s Most Misunderstood Oil
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Nutrition-related opinions around cooking oils are often shaped by misguided narratives, especially when it comes to fats and their perceived health effects. Among these, palm oil frequently stands out as one of the most debated vegetable oils in everyday diets.
In this episode of The Palm Pod, we take a closer look at palm oil through a nutrition lens—exploring what it actually contains, how it compares with other commonly used oils, and the many misconceptions around it.
Host Fara Rom is joined by nutrition experts Dr. Roseline Yap, Nutritionist, and Managing Editor at the Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, and Dr. Sanjit Kanjilal, Senior Principal Scientist, Centre for Lipid Science and Technology, CSIR - Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, to break down the science, unpack common misconceptions, and explore how palm oil fits into everyday dietary guidelines and food security.
Learn more about sustainable palm oil at www.rspo.org.
*The views and opinions expressed on The Palm Pod are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of The Palm Pod or the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
You are now listening to the palm pot, brought to you by RSPO, a global partnership to make palm oil sustainable. Hi, I'm Fara Rom, and you're tuning into the Palm Pot, where we host engaging discussions, expert insights, industry updates on sustainable palm oil, guiding consumers and businesses to make better choices for the planet. Despite being one of the most consumed edible oils around the world, palm oil is also one of the most misunderstood. It has been historically a part of many cultures, traditions, and diets from West Africa to Southeast Asia, and red palm oil is packed with vitamins and carotens, and yet it is often viewed through a narrow nutritional lens, mainly because of its saturated fat content. At the same time, palm oil also contains essential fatty acids, though this is not widely recognized in public conversations, sadly. Recently published studies by India's National Institute of Nutrition and the Italian Union on Sustainable Palm Oil, an RSPO member, they're calling on us to re-examine the narrative on palm oil and view it as an essential dietary component. And in this episode, we will explore palm oil nutrition, how it compares with other edible oils, how it differs, and how much of what we hear is shaped by perception versus science. We also will look at its role in global food systems, where it actually supplies over 40% of the world's vegetable oil, making it vital for global food security. It is more about unpacking perceptions, clarifying nutrition science, and addressing misinformation. So, for many of us, including myself coming from Malaysia, one of the world's largest palm oil producing countries, this topic is really close to home. Malaysians alone consume around 12 to 18 kilograms of palm oil person annually. But beyond Malaysia, palm oil is actually a key part of daily nutrition in many countries such as India, Indonesia, where it's widely used in home cooking and packaged foods due to its affordability and versatility. It also plays a significant role in countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, and Egypt, and I can go on and on. Yet, palm oil is not typically marketed as a healthy oil in the same way some other edible oils are, and we often don't pause to ask ourselves why. So today we're joined by two experts from Malaysia and from India. The first person is Dr. Rosalin Yap, a nutritionist and the managing editor at the Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, and Dr. Sanjeet Kanchilal, Senior Principal Scientist at the Center for Lipid Science and Technology, C S I R, at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, both of whom bring strong scientific and research perspective on food and nutrition. Welcome both.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Farah. Okay. Thank you so much, Dr. Rosaline and Dr. Sanjeet. Great to have you both here. And I think to start us off simply, could each of you share a little bit about your work and how it connects to nutrition and dietary fats? Maybe Dr. Rosaline can start first. Hi Farah.
SPEAKER_01It's good to be here to talk about, you know, dietary fats and oil. Basically, I'm a nutritionist. Okay. So when you talk about my work, I do a lot of nutrition promotion to the public. So we do talk a lot about dietary fats and oil, actually. Why? It's because usually when we do nutrition promotion, we will also educate, create awareness on the Malaysian food pyramid. And then of course the dietary fats and oils is at the top of the pyramid where that we should actually consume sparingly. On top of that, in terms of dietary consumption, okay, basically we do want to make sure that the uh Malaysians, uh, the public, you know, to consume um the recommended levels of dietary fat. So basically, in terms of that, you know, we provide very easy-to-practice tips, you know, in terms of what to eat, uh, you know, uh, when how to select foods when you go out and eat. Because Malaysians do like to go out and eat a lot. And of course, in terms of home cooking, too, you know, what are some of the healthier cooking methods uh in order to make sure that the uh consumption of dietary fat uh as per recommended levels?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so that's my line of work. Thank you, Dr. Azadeen. Dr. Sanjit, can you share about yourself and your work that you do uh surrounding this topic?
SPEAKER_03Sure, Bora. I am basically an organic chemist, uh, working in the area of oils, fats, and oliochemicals for the last 30 years. Presently I am chief scientist and chair of the Department of Oils, Lipid Science and Technology, CSIR, IICT HydroBad. Actually, uh, I worked on not only isolation of lipid, synthesis of lipid, structural modification of lipids, then you know physicochemical and biochemical aspects of anything related to lipids, which involves not only edible, even non-edible oils and fats also. And presently I have been associated with the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, that is a food regulatory body of India, as CTP panel member of oils and fats panel during 2017 to 2023. And now at present, I am the method of sampling and analysis panel from uh 2023 to 2026. I am also a member of the technical advisory board of WHO for global elimination of trans fat from food products. So uh I have worked extensively on uh method development for the estimation of trans fat in with different types of food products. So, because of that, I have been included in the advisory board member of uh WHO. This is uh in brief about me.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Dr. Sanjeet. So, from the brief profile of both of our speakers, we know that we're in good hands. Um, so we continue directly to our first topic, which is perception of palm oil. So, Dr. Sanjeet, when palm oil comes up with conversations around health, and you as a scientist, right? Um, when you observe, what are people usually concerned about?
SPEAKER_03See, follow they are mainly concerned about only its saturated fat content. Okay, and you cannot blame the consumers as they are not at all aware of other positive attributes of palm oil and other nutritional facts of palm oil. So that definitely is a need to educate consumers. Another reason is uh, you know, all kinds of anti-palm brigade of social media who are uh spreading uh uh myths associated with the consumption of palm oil. So that is the only concern high saturated fat content and linking it to uh hypercholesteremia. That is the issue.
SPEAKER_00I think this is a very popular perception, and this is also uh includes um day-to-day conversations with people, they say, like, especially those who are not in Malaysia or Indonesia, especially those outside of the growing countries. And Dr. Roslin, do you see those same concerns reflected in how people approach food and cooking oils in Malaysia?
SPEAKER_01It's slightly different from my side, actually, in terms of choosing palm oil, you know, as the uh cooking medium. If you're talking about Malaysian consumers, it's not so much about the saturated fatty acids because if you're talking about the consumption of uh saturated fatty acids, right? Uh Malaysian diet is really very high in it. And it's not from palm oil, actually, it's mainly from animal-based uh uh foods, you know, uh, which are high in saturated fatty acids. So actually, in terms of selecting palm oil as a cooking medium, is for Malaysians is uh mainly the cost is one thing. And the colour actually, because you know, when you associate cooking oil, right, they usually prefer the very nice yellow, golden yellow color and not so much about the red. So um there's a lot of uh educating that we need to do uh to the consumers, you know, uh, in terms of why it has uh this really nice uh ruby rate for the oil, you know, uh, because it's very high in the uh nutrients and so on. And uh of course, in terms of the price, is it depends if you know uh the demand is more than you know the price could go down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Price is actually influenced a lot of people's choices of oil as well. Thank you for bringing that up, Dr. Rosalin. From both of your perspectives, do you think palm oil is often judged too narrowly from a nutrition standpoint? Maybe Dr. Sanjeet can share your thoughts.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I uh completely agree uh with the comment because there is a lack of awareness among consumers about nutritional facts and that several applications and related advantages of oil palm, such as you know, unique structural features, high oxidative stability, high smoke point, which all these things make palm oil very much ideal for deep frying. So I really uh agree with this comment. Dr.
SPEAKER_01Roslin? Uh, yes, definitely. Actually, the reason why is because consumers don't usually, you know, they don't actually buy cooking oil to get nutrients because it's mainly for cooking. So that's why they are not really uh aware about the nutritional profile of palm oil, you know, what are the uh important nutrients, you know, that you can actually get from palm oil, you know. So it is good actually. Um, oil can also contribute in terms of important nutrients and antioxidants to the body. So I think it's definitely a lot of work for us to do, especially for me as a nutritionist, you know, to uh actually to create more awareness in terms of the uh nutritional profile, the properties of uh palm oil.
SPEAKER_00You made a really interesting point about how people, how people people's decision to buy oil is just to buy oil and not really about the nutrients in the oil. Yes. Yeah, so yeah, I think it's a missed opportunity there, and definitely a lot of a lot more communications can happen um to communicate more about the benefits of you know different types of oil and including palm oil. Dr. Sanjeet, could you walk us through? You mentioned a little bit about the chemistry side of palm oil. Can you uh walk us through the nutritional composition of palm oil, but maybe make it in simple terms so that you know people like me can understand uh a lot easier?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, actually, uh almost all oils contain, you know, tochopherols and uh which are called uh provitamin E. I think palm oil is only oil which contains another pro vitamin E called tocotrienols. So there are two oils one is palm oil and another is rice ban oil. These two are the only oils which contain additionally chocotrienols. No other oil has got tochotrienols. Another point of palm oil is the only oil which contains Q1 enzyme. Okay, third point is the balanced saturated and unsaturated fatty acid, almost nearly 50-50, which is ideal for blending with other oil to reach recommended sulfamufa ufa ratio. This is another advantage of composition of palm oil, and even though we we see we tell that palm oil contain 44 to 46 percent palmitic acid, almost 50 percent of saturated fatty acid. But remember, not only the and uh chain length of the fatty acid is important, but also what is important is the position of the fatty acid over the glycerol back. In palm oil, palmitic acid is actually distributed more in one and three positions of glycerol, almost 87 percent, which results in poor absorption of palmitic acids once they are released by the digestive enzymes. Just to explain, we whenever we eat any fatty food, it gets digested in the body by the action of three enzymes. All these enzymes are one three specific. That means this enzymes will break fatty acid only from one and three portion of glycerol, and it is a well-known fact the fatty acid which is there in SN2 position, which is absorbed completely, whereas fatty acids which are released due to the action of enzyme from one and three positions are poorly absorbed. So even though palmetic acid is rich in palm oil, but their location does not allow it to be of much concern, you know, because they'll be poorly absorbed in our system. This is all about we can tell about nutritional as well as structural composition of palm oil in simple terms, Dr. Body was asking for.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I think you also already mentioned about some of um other nutrients that is available in palm oil, and I think it also includes essential fatty acids, even though it is the story. But why do you think this part of the conversation isn't widely known? You know how they are comparing other better oils and good healthy oils, they're always marketed as you know, oh, this oil has this and that, but like in palm oil, even though it has the essential fatty acid that our body needs, why is it less told?
SPEAKER_03Now, see the essential fatty acid which is there in palm oil is basically linolic acid, and that is omega-6 puffa, and their level is not very high, it is 90 to 12 percent. So we really uh need to focus too too much important on that. There are other oils which is very high content of linolic acid and very high some oil contain linolanic acid also. So these two are basically essential fatty acid. Because why essential? Because our body cannot produce these two fatty acids, so it has to be taken along with the diet. EFA content in palm oil is in the range of 9 to 12 percent. Okay, so it also contains traces of linolic acid, but not that much high. However, unfortunately, myths of high saturated fatty acid containing palm oil overweighs you know the presence of essential fatty acids. So we must blame on social media propaganda against palm oil for that.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so um I think we want to also touch about red palm oil. So um, with the nutrients that you have listed uh just now, what about red palm oil? What's the difference between you know red palm oil and the palm oil that is usually used um in this part of the region? Does it offer anything different nutritionally?
SPEAKER_03Uh it's a well-known fact. Red palm oil actually uh the only vegetable source of vitamin A and also probitamin E is a well-known fact. Okay, because it is unrefined, it is extracted from the palm fruit, it is enriched with all these uh nutritional components. Unfortunately, it is very dark orange red in color, and that color is due to beta-carotene, which is nearly 400 to 500 ppm. As usual, once you are doing uh you are not refining oil because during the process of refining, we lose a lot of probitamin E, tochopherolose, tochotryanos will be lost during refining. Since red palm oil is not refined, it is enriched with pro vitamine. So, all these antioxidants make this red palm oil ideal for as edible application. I will not say cooking application as far as India is concerned, it could not pick the market. I remember 1970s, 80s, red palm oil entered Indian market. It could not take the market because of its color, pungent flavor, and aroma. Okay, so that makes palm oil not so powerful, red palm oil not so popular in India as cooking oil, maybe a salad oil as a nutritional oil. You can use it. That's a very good oil, right?
SPEAKER_00I think I'm like a bit biased because I really love the red palm oil and also how it makes um the food that I make the color is a bit more vibrant.
SPEAKER_03So I think it's just yeah, maybe, yeah, maybe um, okay.
SPEAKER_00Uh Dr. Rosadeen, looking at the nutritional profile of palm oil, how should people interpret it in their everyday dietary requirements? Not taking your advice as a prescription, but more of um what would you say how people should view you know um the dietary intake that they need to take uh and in regards to palm oil?
SPEAKER_01Thanks for the question. Actually, in terms of like um the current nutritional status, I think even globally, it's undeniable that in terms of non-comical disease or chronic uh diseases like heart disease, cancers and so on rising, it's very high globally, actually. So, basically, prevention of these diseases, what we can do is to have a high intake of antioxidants. So that's when uh palm oil comes in, actually. Palm oil um actually has very high antioxidants in terms of uh what uh Dr. Sajit has mentioned in terms of the vitamin A, vitamin E, and then the coenzyme Q10. So in terms of the nutritional palm uh profile of palm oil, you know, it can contribute in terms of this uh important antioxidants into the dietary uh intake of you know globally of people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And looking at the nutritional guidelines that you refer to, Malaysian uh food pyramid and things like that, where does palm oil stand in the nutritional guidelines you offer your clients when planning your diet?
SPEAKER_01Um basically, in terms of that, okay, there are two ways, of course, in terms of uh dietary intake or fats and oil, it's still at the top of the pyramid as one. So it's still minimum, but then in terms when we break down in terms of like saturated fatty acids, uh mono unsaturated fatty acids, and also the polyunsaturated fatty acids, we do have certain percentage. Yeah, but of course, if you were I were to you know um counsel in terms of consumers, we can't really tell them in terms of percentage-wise, because it's very difficult to calculate. What we can do is we can actually just educate them in terms of what type of oil to use for their cooking, and then in terms of like uh the choices of food, uh, you know, when they go out and eat, and uh so that they meet the recommended, and also in terms of people with heart disease and so on, we also kind of need to minimize uh in terms of the uh uh recommended levels of the different types of uh fatty acids, too. So it really depends, yeah. So we we kind of need to put it in a simpler way, you know, uh more lay in terms of that. So we cannot really say that uh uh in terms of you know uh that it has like you know this percentage of saturated fatty acids and so on. We actually explain more in terms of food, yeah. Right. So definitely palm oil is definitely you know uh one of the uh you know uh tips, you know, if you're talking about cooking oils, the decision is always the consumer, right? So we can only provide this information. So the final decision whether they purchase palm oil or the other oils is up to them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yes, yes, correct.
SPEAKER_00You would like to chime in, Dr. Sanjeev?
SPEAKER_03No, no, whatever uh Rosalind, no, uh she mentioned is correct. It is choice is up to the consumer. Okay, we can maximum propagate as much as possible the nutritional benefit of the palm oil, especially red palm oil, that pro vitamin E and Provit it can be used like a salad oil. What I told basically cooking is Indian way of cooking, is a continuously deep frying. It actually, the real uh flavor of the original food gets masked by the pungent aroma of palm oil. That is the reason why red palm oil is not so popular in India as palmolin, okay, as cooking oil. That's why I just want to add along with uh Dr. Rosalin's comment.
SPEAKER_00Right. And I think Dr. Rosaline, you've also uh mentioned about the choices of food, it also depends on your clients. And you also, I think, touch about how important the dietary pattern itself instead of just focusing on just one ingredient. So can you elaborate a bit more on how it is important to look at the overall choices of your diet, right? Rather than focusing on just one particular ingredient.
SPEAKER_01Of course, uh, because actually each food group, you know, has uh its purpose. Yeah. So in simpler terms, like you know, at the base of our pyramid, this is uh, of course, the Malaysian food pyramid, but of course, in terms of globally, it's also very similar that we need to focus more on the vegetables and fruit. So this will provide us the vitamins and minerals, you know, which are very important. So each food group has its own purpose, and then we move on to our carbohydrates and so on, which will give us the energy, and then in terms of the uh protein foods, you know, for growth and repair, you know. So we cannot just look at just one single ingredient because one particular food only, because that particular food will just give you, you know, a particular uh nutrients, you know. And even in each food group, we always emphasize variety. You cannot eat the same food daily. You if you eat it the same, like for example, your breakfast, you just eat bread for like 20 years, the same bread. You only obtain the same nutrients from the bread, you know, but you have to have a variety, you know, like for example, you know, during the week, you know, you have a mix of bread, you know, or rice is also fine because you know, in terms like in Japanese population, they actually consume, or even the Koreans they consume rice as their breakfast. So you need to have some variety to get uh you know different uh nutrients, you know, and not just rely on one single food. Because some of these nutrients our body cannot produce, as what Dr. Sanjeep mentioned. These are essential nutrients. So that's the reason why the focus on variety in each food group is so important.
SPEAKER_00Variety is key. And when we talk about having variety, it's also about options. So we are having our segue to the next topic. This is about comparing oils. So, Dr. Sanjee, the difficult question goes to you. How does palm oil compare with other commonly used oils such as soybean, sunflower, or olive oil from a nutritional standpoint?
SPEAKER_03Well, thank you for this uh tough question. You know, each oil is unique, uh, you know, uniqueness in fatty acid composition, in physiochemical properties, nutritional properties. Since you have given choice of comparing palm oil with sunflower, soybean and olive. Let us start from sunflower oil. So, sunflower oil is rich in linolic acid, almost 57.7 percent, followed by oliic, around 30 percent, and very low palmetic. That is actually whatever I'm going to tell now. That is based on my research carried out in India by collecting oils from different regions. Okay, so low in palmetic around 6.9 plus minus 0.69 percentage in sunplar oil. Sumpflower oil is rich in alpha tocopherol, around 500 ppm and around 14.14 to 16 ppm gamma tocopherol, absolutely no tocotryol. This is the structural nutritional features of sampler. Coming to soybean oil, almost like sampler oil, it is also rich inolic acid around 50.6 percent, followed by oliic around 26.4%, and slightly higher of pometic around 12.3 percent. But fortunately, soybean oil also contains linolinic acid, so it has both omega-6 as well as omega-3 fatty acids that makes soyone oil i mean nutritionally little superior over cyanflower oil. It also reached in gamma tocopherol around 500 ppm. One thing you should understand gamma tocopherol, okay, around 530 ppm.
SPEAKER_00Sorry, Dr. Sanji, what's dpm?
SPEAKER_03PPA parts per million means milligram per kg. Okay, ppm uh parts per million. Okay, that is a unit of you know reporting this nutrition uh tocopherols as part of the AOCS protocol or whatever I do in the lab. So that means one plus pinocybenase, it contains lignolinic acid that is omega-3 pupha, which is very important for the ratio of omega-6 into omega 3 ratio of to be in between 5 to 10. It doesn't contain tocotrianol, but it contains a considerable amount of gamma tocopherol. Looking at the antioxidant properties of tochopherol, gamma is much much more superior than alpha. So, soybean oil is nutritionally much better than sunflower oil. But why it gets killed by this thing? Because soyabine oil contains fishy flavor. But sunflower oil is like palm oil, absolutely no flavor. Two oils that is no flavor is sunflower oil and palm oil. So, on that respect, sunflower oil priority gets you know chosen by the consumer. But if you look at the nutritional point, soybean oil is better than sunflower oil. Third oil is olive oil, that is a European oil. Yeah, you know, it has got nothing but still claim to be a very good oil. It is the controversial thing, it is a rich in olive acid, nearly 75 to 76 percent. Absolutely. I mean, uh palmitic acid is low, no doubt, but extremely low in very, very important EFA, essential fatty acid, just 4 to 5 percent. It is much, much, much poorer than your palm oil. But people never say anything about olive oil, it contains trucopherol, no doubt, but content is around below 100 ppm. Okay, and absolutely no trucotron. So there is nothing in olive oil to be claimed in a very, very nutritious oil, okay? Structurally and component-wise. Now, coming to our point of discussion is palm oil and palm oil. So it is rich in olive acid, 43%, palmitic acid 39%, but it is balanced saturated transurgen fatty acids, it also contains essential fatty acid, which is 9-12 percent, much much more than olive oil. It contains both tocopherols and tocotrianols. You got additional beneficial properties of tocotrianols in this palm oil compared to all the three above studied, whatever I mentioned, oil. So, this is how we look at it. There are plus point, minus point, both sides. Palm oil, it is you know high oxidative stability, you know, no flavor. So keep the flavor of the uh food intact. That is what I was telling the mention red palm oil that is not there, but moment you refine it, it removes all the good thing. In fact, he was removing good thing, okay? But that nutritional beta carotene thing, then only you know the flavor goes off, right? So, this is what I want to tell about the comparison.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna go further to that to that statement you made just now. But uh, Dr. Roslyn, when so why is it that there are always this perspective of or perception of people that there's one oil superior and we know which oil that people are always you know um hype uh hyped about? When people choose cooking oils, are they focusing on the right factors, Dr. Rosaline?
SPEAKER_01I think the word right is uh very subjective because it really depends on the individual's needs and uh preferences. I mean, just now you did mention, right, you you like the you don't mind the rate, uh the ruby rate of palm oil better. But if you're talking about majority, even Dr. Sanjay mentioned in India also they don't like the color, especially for red palm oil, we use it for salads, you know. So we drizzle, you know, a little bit of the red palm oil. But if I'm talking about price, actually, if you compare in terms of uh palm oil with other vegetable oils uh in the market, uh sold in Malaysia, red palm oil is actually uh much, much more expensive. So actually, price is uh if you're talking about foods, because in my line of work, you know, when you do promotion, right? People will tell me, Oh, I don't eat vegetables because it's so expensive. So price is always a factor when they're coming up with uh you know consumer. But in terms of like there are people who are concerned with health, okay, or they equip themselves with the knowledge in terms of the uh you know uh the nutrients of various foods, you know. So these are the people, you know, if for health perspective, right, they may choose uh you know palm oil compared to the other oils. So it really depends on the individual, yeah, individuals' needs, and of course, in terms of their you know awareness on their knowledge on you know various foods, including uh the ingredient uh such as palm oil as a cooking medium.
SPEAKER_00From both of your perspectives, do you think the differences between oils are sometimes overstated? Sanjay, you can you can share.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, okay, okay, okay. So, first of all, I think uh uh already I explained uh when I was comparing between oils.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03So already see the the oil which you are consuming since your childhood is the best oil for you. Okay, so you should not change your food a bit drastically suddenly. You can take you know play around since each oil is unique, it is always uh better to uh you know rotate the oil to get the benefit of both the oils. Two oils is much better if you go ahead to a three oil, also. So oil is just a medium to cook food, so it we should look at the properties of the food which are getting food, whether it is balanced or not. So that is important.
SPEAKER_00Dr. Roslin, do you have anything to add?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, I think it's you know it's unfair to label. Uh actually, there's no no such thing as uh good or bad or it's just the same as there's no such things as good or bad foods, it's your dietary habits, right? So, you know, um each of the uh cooking oil has its own you know uh properties, uh as uh Dr. Sanjeev has also mentioned in very detailed. So it really depends on, you know, as I mentioned, the individual's needs, you know. But if let's say the person does a lot of deep frying, you know, so of course, you know, sunflower oil is not going to be healthy for that person. Right, it's not suitable. Yeah, it's not suitable for such uh you know foods or that purpose of uh cooking. Right. So there's there's a lot of uh education that we still need to do, of course, from the healthcare professionals, uh including myself, yeah, in terms of um you know the choice of uh cooking oil that you should use, you know, for your culinary practices.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's an interesting take that you both mentioned about changing oils every now and then, because I think a lot of people don't think of oil in that manner. For example, like how we eat protein is so different, like we you know rotate sometimes. We eat meat, we you know balance it out with fish and chicken, but like with oil, we just like, oh, this uh oil is bad, so I'm just gonna use this particular oil. So it's an interesting perspective there, and um so understanding how important oil is uh as part of our dietary intake, palm oil also is one of the edible oil that plays a major role in feeding populations globally. So, Dr. Sanji, in India particularly, how does palm oil translate uh in the national dietary guidelines and the nation's food system?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so uh as you mentioned, it is uh one of the most well-consumed oil globally, almost 36 percent, and significantly higher than any other oil. So, to coming to India, see India actually uh uh palm oil acts like a severe for India, you know, it bridges the gap between there's a big gap between because we have a huge population, okay. Indian population, our oil production, oil seed production, also third highest oil seed production. Even then, we have to import nearly 67 to 68 percent of oil, edible oil. And among the imported oil, palm oil is almost 60 percent, rest is sunflower and soybean. Okay, so importance of palm oil for for my country is really really necessary because to bridge the gap between consumption and production. Second aspect is you know recent regulation of trans fat. I don't know whether you were aware of this or not. So, for that as per the recommendation of the WHO, TFA content, trans fat content in all food products should not be more than 2%, it should be always less than 2%. Unfortunately, that really stops any kinds of hydrogenation to produce you know vanaspati and other solid fat as which are used extensively in India in as bakery fat and many food products. Okay, but because of this regulation, so hydrogenation is stopped. Industry is not producing any high uh any hydrogenated fat to meet the regulation of trans fat. Now, in this scenario, palm oil and its fraction really plays a very good role. So, indirectly, we are replacing trans fat with saturated fat. But now, again, some people are telling saturated fat also bad, but it is not as bad as trans fat because trans fat is totally artificial. Saturated fat is even our body also produces saturated fat, so it is not that bad unless you take excessive anything. If you take excess is the poison, even vitamin is a poison if you take excess. So, this uh role of palm oil is very important for the mitigation of trans fat in India because of its you know semi-solid structure, which makes it a vital replacement for trans fat. Nutrient density, once again, I already mentioned powerful antioxidants, tocotrianoles that can combat cellular damage economic-wise because of its higher yields per hectare production, almost five to ten times more than any other oil that reduces the production cost and ensuring affordability.
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SPEAKER_03Rosalin mentioned this slowly red palm oil is very expensive. Maybe red palm oil is very expensive, but palm oil in India it was used to be you know a poor man's oil, it used to be termed as poor man's oil. But as the as an event type, you know, palm oil uh importation is rising, slowly price is rising. Yeah, so it is no more a poor man's oil, it is like any other oil, you know. So for India, palm oil is uh really important. India relies heavily on palm oil to mainly to bridge the gap between domestic production versus uh consumption, right?
SPEAKER_00So um, relating to global food security perspective, Dr. Rosaline, how does palm oil translate into key factors? I think Dr. Sanjeet has mentioned a bit about the affordability and such, but can you elaborate a bit more on how does palm oil helps or translate in the key factors such as accessibility, affordability, and everyday food choices?
SPEAKER_01I think this will be relate more to everyday food choices. I think the the good news about uh the situation in Malaysia, basically, in terms of the um we we do get we do have palm oil because uh Malaysia produces palm oil. So if you're talking about you know fast food restaurants, you know, um they use palm oil. So Dr. Sajid mentioned uh earlier about the trans fatty acids. So um in fast food restaurants that you know produces you know a lot of food products that are deep fried. So it's good for good news for us actually, because we will not be consuming trans fatty acids. Yeah. So of course I'm not you know uh encouraging people to consume fast food rest foods, uh, deep fried, but then I mean in a way it's a little bit better, you know, in terms of like even thinking about you know uh using you know uh like sunflower oil, you know, to cook for deep frying. Another thing is also like in uh uh big products, also. So I think Dr. Sanjeep mentioned also in India where you know if you were to use palm oil, it's also a better option, definitely a better option because of its stability that it will not you know uh produces trans fatty acids. Yeah. So I can only mention more that in terms of health perspective and everyday choices, also. So I can't really, you know, um comment much in terms of uh affordability, you know, I because I did mention the price, right? Right, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00Um, Dr. Sanji, you wanna elaborate a bit more about the relationship between palm oil and the oil itself being like uh one of the biggest tools in global food security when it comes to it being affordable and accessible, uh especially in Indian context, and how you translate it into like a bigger uh global food security for everyone around.
SPEAKER_03Actually, I already covered uh is global food securities roller palm oil, mainly in terms of you know high yield and excellent properties. Because I can say this isn't a wonder while because every fraction of uh when you do fractionation of palm oil, you've got different different fractions. Each fraction's physicochemical properties, especially the melting points, changes like anything that really widens the application of palm oil. So, global food security, of course, it is a huge role. So almost 60 36 percent production. I mean, what global production is palm oil, so it has a huge role. That's what I can I can tell as far as the India is concerned, and palm oil is the savior, it saves us. So that's what actually I want to add.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and there's a lot of benefits to it as well. Like Dr. Sanjay mentioned about how palm oil, compared to any other oil, it's one of the highest yielding vegetable oil crops. And you know, if you look at the sustainability standpoint, there's also, you know, some people like uh you mentioned before, Dr. Rosaline, about people making choices, like what's right for a person might not be right for another person. So those who are more concerned about sustainability and ethics and things like that, uh, looking at palm oil, it just makes a lot of sense. And okay, I think um we touched most of the questions that we have for both Dr. Rosaline and Dr. Sanjay. We have like a really short, quick QA, uh, more of a rapid fire round. Uh so I will give a statement to each of you, and uh, you will have like a very short answer to all these statements. Okay, so we start with Dr. Rosalie. So the first statement is palm oil is unhealthy.
SPEAKER_01No, palm oil is actually nutritious, okay, and it's very stable for cooking. Okay, Dr.
SPEAKER_00Sanji, all saturated fats should be avoided.
SPEAKER_03Saturated fat, if you take excess, is bad because saturated fat is within a limit, it is like any other fatty acids, okay? And uh, you know, chain length, as I mentioned, it's not only the chain length of fatty acid, but also orientation of the fatty acid about the glycerol backbone is important.
SPEAKER_00Okay, great. Um, Dr. Rosalin, some oils are inherently better than others.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, the answer is no. Uh, so it really depends on the individual's needs and uh preferences. Um, but I do want to emphasize because uh, you know, like uh cooking oils nowadays, right? Uh they do have like a um soft like nutrition information on the food labels. So I think it's very important, you know, for consumers to equip themselves in the knowledge of that. You know, um, I also want to emphasize that they will always put their zero cholesterol. Uh that's very obvious because you cannot you do not have any cholesterol from any plant-based products. Yeah, yes, yes, 100%. Correct, yeah. So it's important to actually um yeah, equip yourself with the knowledge about you know uh food labels. So read your labels, um consumers.
SPEAKER_00And Dr. Sanjay, last but not least, palm oil has no meaningful nutritional value.
SPEAKER_03What should I tell?
SPEAKER_00Just listen to your answer all over again.
SPEAKER_03Each oil is unique, each oil has got some positive factor, some negative factor. So palm oil also has got some negativity, some positivity. You know, each oil, every oil. That's why I was comparing each oil, no? So it has got that is the reason you know, people say uh rotate the oil to get the benefit of each oil. So, but there are certain uniqueness in palm oil as far as nutrition is concerned, of the rich in antioxidants, tucotriols, structural things, these are the positive attributes. That much I can add. So it is nutritionally not bad, it is good.
SPEAKER_00Okay, great. So we are going to the closing reflections before we wrap up. Uh, Dr. Rosaline, what is one misconception about palm oil and nutrition you would like to correct?
SPEAKER_01I think a lot of people perceive that uh palm oil is very high in saturated fatty acids, uh, which is not true actually. Um, it's only 50%. So it has very balance uh in terms of the uh fatty acid composition. You know, it's 50% saturated fat uh fats and then 50% of the unsaturated fatty acids. So I think this balanced composition is actually provide you know a the uniqueness of palm oil uh in terms of you know giving us you know uh the different fatty acids you know for our body, and of course, uh as a cooking medium it is um very stable, you know, if you will compare to other vegetable oils.
SPEAKER_00Okay, Dr. Sanjay, the same question to you from a scientific perspective: what do you think people most often misunderstand?
SPEAKER_03See, first of all, as per the American Heart Association or WHO guidelines, ratio of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated should be one is to one to one point five is to one. Okay, and the ratio of omega-3 is to omega six should be in between five to ten. This is the nutritional guidelines to get all the different types of fatty acids, essential fatty acid in our diet. You cannot completely develop free up, uh you know, saturated fat. You should be there, it will be there. Okay, but what palm oil is negative, small negative thing is that it is even though Dr. Roslin mentioned 50% saturated, 50% unsaturated, correct? That makes palm oil is a very good oil to be blended with another oil to reach that value of safa mufa pufa. That is one point I am to add additionally so. It is less a level of EFA should be have been more, it is slightly less, and saturated fatty is slightly more. But that saturated fatty acid, once again, as I mentioned, structural orientation. Okay, structural orientation of palmetic acid is if you if you are from chemistry background, you can understand in the glycerol, there are three positions one, two, three. So it most of the uh fatty acids which are not required by our by our body, nature places it, nature, god nature, or mother nature places it knowingly at one and three position because these are not required by our body, which are required by the biomedicity, they mother nature place it at SN2 position because that is the fatty acid and mono is a glycerol, two monoxidlycerol that is absorbed on our system. Okay, so palm oil that's what uniqueness of each oil. Palm oil has got some new, yes, it is rich. It is you cannot deny this fact. It contains a higher level of palmic acid. That is, you have to accept.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Okay, I think today's topic is a really uh interesting revelation for me because there's a lot of information, even though I'm actually a nutrition background myself, but I didn't pursue that as my career. Um, and thank you so much for uh both of you. And I hope today's conversation has given our listeners a more informed perspective on palm oil nutrition and the important role palm oil plays in the bigger global food security. And for many communities around the world, it remains an affordable and accessible source of food and nutrition. And when produced sustainably, palm oil can deliver benefits far beyond dietary health, like I mentioned um before, supporting livelihoods, protecting forests and biodiversity, and it also contributes to stronger social, environmental, and economic well-being for communities across the globe. I have put some mention about RSPO here, so don't mind me. And thank you so much, both Dr. Rosaline and Dr. Sanjeet for spending your time this evening. And yeah, and if anyone wants uh more conversation with them, feel free to reach out uh to us. And yeah, thank you so much both. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to the Pompo. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms. We also love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for future episodes. I was speaking to our guests, Dr. Rosalind Yap, nutritionist and the managing editor at the Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, and Dr. Sandeet Kanjalal, Senior Principal Scientist at the Center for Lipid Science and Technology, CSIR, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology. I am Fararum, and this is the Pompot.