{"id":1970,"date":"2009-05-28T01:27:28","date_gmt":"2009-05-27T23:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=1970"},"modified":"2015-12-03T11:17:09","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T16:17:09","slug":"palm-oil-healthy-replacement-partiallyhydrogenated-oils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/palm-oil-healthy-replacement-partiallyhydrogenated-oils\/","title":{"rendered":"Palm Oil is NOT a Healthy Replacement for Partially-Hydrogenated Oils"},"content":{"rendered":"

As most everyone knows by now, the partially-hydrogenated oils used in commercial food products are high in unhealthy trans-fats.\u00a0 Now that\u00a0trans-fats\u00a0must be disclosed\u00a0on\u00a0nutrition labels (at least in places where they’re not\u00a0banned outright<\/a>), many manufacturers have replaced them with natural sources of\u00a0saturated fat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Palm oil is one of those substitutes.\u00a0It’s\u00a0a highly popular\u00a0cooking oil worldwide that’s high in saturated fat, so it’s a natural replacement for partially-hydrogenated oils.<\/p>\n

There’s only one problem: although palm oil is technically\u00a0“trans fat-free”, according to\u00a0an article in the\u00a0USDA’s Agricultural research magazine<\/a>,\u00a0it may be just as heart-unhealthy for some people\u00a0as the trans-fat-laden oils it’s replacing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In terms of daily diet, the type of fat one consumes has a greater effect on heart disease risk factors than the amount of fat. And both trans fatty acids and saturated fatty acids are associated with elevated risk, according to authors of an ARS-supported study. The clinical trial was designed to compare the effect\u2014on plasma lipoprotein profiles\u2014of four different oils as they are commonly consumed.<\/p>\n

…Fifteen adults, both male and female, volunteered for the study. All were aged 50 or older. Their levels of LDL \u201cbad\u201d cholesterol were moderately high at 130 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg\/dL) or above. Palm oil was studied because it has been touted as a potential substitute for hydrogenated fat.<\/p>\n

The volunteers consumed each of four experimental fat diets for 35 days. The fats tested were partially hydrogenated soybean oil (moderately high in trans fat), palm oil (high in saturated fat), canola oil (high in monounsaturated fat), and soybean oil (high in polyunsaturated fat).<\/p>\n

At the end of each phase, the volunteers were tested to obtain plasma lipoprotein and fatty acid profiles and other measures related to heart disease.<\/p>\n

The findings suggest that consuming either of the diets enriched with equivalent high amounts of palm oil or partially hydrogenated soybean oil resulted in similar, unfavorable levels of LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B (a protein that carries bad cholesterol throughout the bloodstream). That\u2019s when compared to consuming either of the diets enriched with canola oil or soybean oil, which are high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, respectively.<\/p>\n

The results suggest that palm oil would not be a good substitute for trans fats by the food industry, the study authors wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One possible downside to this study<\/a>\u00a0is that the subjects were not consuming a variety of fat sources,\u00a0unlike people\u00a0eating\u00a0normal diets.\u00a0 Thus, it’s unclear whether the same changes seen in the test diet would occur under\u00a0free-living conditions.\u00a0 Still, it’s a little disturbing to see palm oil-containing products touted as “natural” and “trans-fat free” – which implies\u00a0these products are healthier than their trans-fat-containing counterparts.\u00a0 At the very least, this is something that has yet to be established.<\/p>\n

Looks like the food processors are caught between a rock and a hard spot.\u00a0 But rather than wait for them to come up with a safer alternative, I’d just as soon take the K.I.S.S. approach and limit\u00a0intake of higher fat, processed foods altogether.\u00a0 That way, I don’t have to worry about either palm oil or trans-fats.<\/p>\n

‘Nuff said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As most everyone knows by now, the partially-hydrogenated oils used in commercial food products are high in unhealthy trans-fats.\u00a0 Now that\u00a0trans-fats\u00a0must be disclosed\u00a0on\u00a0nutrition labels (at least in places […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,14,28],"tags":[845,1003,1240,1434,1670],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1970"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10257,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970\/revisions\/10257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}