In cookies, in cereals, in salty snacks, in ice creams, in industrial pastries, in pizzas, in chocolates … Palm oil is everywhere, and leaving the supermarket without any product to do so. contain is very difficult. Its controversial nature is explained by the fact that more and more nutritionists and scientists are warning of its harmful effects on the body.
Until a few years ago, it was a highly prized substance. Obtained from the fruit of the African palm Elaeis guineensis (pictured), which is grown mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia, this oil is brimming with vitamin E, and contains more vitamin A precursors than carrots and tomatoes. This combination gives it a strong antioxidant power.
Bad reputation
Without detracting from these vitamins, now suspicious looks are directed at one of its main components, palmitic acid. It is a fatty acid much less saturated than butter and it does not contain the dangerous and forbidden “trans fats”, it is true. But that is not why it can be considered healthy.
According to experts, olive oil is still a much more recommended alternative to take care of yourself. While palm oil can cause an increase in LDL cholesterol – the bad one – and put cardiovascular health at risk, olive juice has proven cardioprotective effects. Of course, the costs of producing it are much higher, which explains why many manufacturers have decided to do without their services.
Does it make cancer more aggressive?
As if that were not enough, last year, Salvador Aznar and his colleagues at the Barcelona Institute for Biomedical Research found a link between a diet rich in palmitic acid and the aggressiveness of cancer. They identified a protein called CD36 capable of initiating and promoting metastasis, and whose activity is enhanced by regular intake of saturated fat. Tests with mice with cancer showed that this ingredient caused the frequency of metastases to go from 50% to 100%.
Environmentalists have declared war on him
To all these news about the harmfulness of palm oil to health is added the damage that its production produces in the environment. Its massive cultivation is causing deforestation, loss of habitats and high polluting emissions.
The European Union has even considered completely stopping the use of palm oil as a biofuel by 2020, after learning that imports of this product in our continent are linked to the destruction of one million hectares of forest, a figure that continues to grow.
“Almost all palm oil is grown in places that used to be tropical forests,” stated a study published recently in the journal PLOS One . The biggest victims of this debacle are the Bornean orangutan, the Sumatran tiger and the birds of the Amazon, but many other species are also in danger as the lucrative plantations of this tree spread relentlessly.
