Jakarta — The palm oil has been often accused as unhealthy vegetable oil that is potential to cause cancer. But there has been no empirical evidence that proves such allegation. Conversely, a series of researches conducted by nutrition and health experts found that the palm oil is not only healthy, but also contains anti-cancer properties.
Based on the report issued by the independent research institution PASPI Monitor, there are at least three reasons why the cooking oil from palm oil is healthy and anti-cancer if compared to other vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, sunflower oil, and olive oil.
First, as stated by Giriwono (2016) from SEAFAST of Bogor University of Agriculture (IPB), the palm oil based cooking oil has a balanced composition of fatty acid – 50 percent saturated fatty acid and 50 percent unsaturated fatty acid, so that the cooking oil from the palm oil is more stable, not easily rancid, and contains no free radicals that cause cancers.
Second, unlike other cooking oils, the production process of palm oil based cooking oil needs no process of hydrogenization. The production process of cooking oil from soybean, sunflower, rapeseed, and olive oil needs the process of hydrogenization to make them more stable, but such process triggers the emergence of new compounds called trans fatty acids, which are potential to cause cancer, obesity, coronary heart, and alzheimer.
Third, the palm oil has a very high content of antioxidants, namely vitamin A (beta carotene) and vitamin E. The palm oil has vitamin A at around 5000 – 6700 ug per 100 grams, which is 12 times higher than the content of vitamin A in carrots and 300 times higher than the content of vitamin A in oranges. The vitamin E content in palm oil is around 1,172 ppm. The nutrition and health experts have scientifically proven that the vitamin A and E contents are very important to prevent cancer and tumor, night blindness, heart disease, increase immunity, and other health benefits. (*)
Source: wartaekonomi.co.id | Image via technologynetworks.com
