Multifarious Benefits and Uses of Palm Oil

Palm oil (also known as dendê oil, from Portuguese) is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa. Palm oil is naturally reddish in colour because of a high beta-carotene content. It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil derived from the kernel of the same fruit or coconut oil derived from the kernel of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). The differences are in colour (raw palm kernel oil lacks carotenoids and is not red) and in saturated fat content: Palm mesocarp oil is 41% saturated, while Palm Kernel oil and Coconut oil are 81% and 86% saturated respectively Along with coconut oil, palm oil is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats. It is semi-solid at room temperature and contains several saturated and unsaturated fats in the forms of glyceryl laurate (0.1%, saturated), myristate (1%, saturated), palmitate (44%, saturated), stearate (5%, saturated), oleate (39%, monounsaturated), linoleate (10%, polyunsaturated), and alpha-linolenate (0.3%, polyunsaturated). Like all vegetable oils, palm oil does not contain cholesterol, although saturated fat intake increases a person's LDL and HDL cholesterol. Palm oil can be used as butter substitute in food processing industries, in industrial production of biodiesel etc.