By Tan Bee Hong
Palm oil plays a larger role in our lives than we realise. Tan Bee Hong finds out more
PALM oil is, without doubt, an integral part of our lives. You may not even be aware of its presence. When you brush your teeth, the toothpaste you use may contain palm oil. Then you sit down to breakfast. You may add non-dairy creamer to your cup of coffee. That’s definitely made with palm oil. Then you spread margarine on a slice of bread and fry an egg. Both margarine and oil are palm oil–based.
After you shower (with soap and shampoo made with palm oil) you put on skincare and lipstick. Yes, made with palm oil. Believe it or not.
Throughout the day, the meals you eat will mostly be cooked with palm oil.
Indeed, there really is much more to the use of palm oil than meets the eye.
Palm oil has been used for over 5,000 years by humans who valued its health benefits. In Egypt, it was considered a sacred food ingredient and was so prized that jars of it had been found entombed with the pharaohs.
Medical circles have also recognised the value of red palm oil in the treatment and prevention of malnutrition and vitamin deficiency. Because of this, governments, particularly those in Third World countries, have been using it for decades to combat vitamin deficiency diseases which are rampant in poor communities.
These include use of palm oil as a cooking oil, so that the people will get a dose of the vitamin-rich oil on a daily basis. It is also used for baking. Providing school-going children daily with a cookie or biscuit enriched with palm oil, for instance, will go a long way to improve health among the impoverished. After all, palm oil is an excellent oil for cooking and baking as it contains 50 per cent saturated fatty acids, 40 per cent monosaturated fatty acids and 10 per cent polyunsaturated fatty acids. This composition is the reason why palm oil is stable and highly heat resistant as well as has a high smoke point of 225° Celsius.
Palm oil is also rich in Vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols). No other vegetable oil contains as much Vitamin E, a powerful anti-oxidant that helps fight free radicals in the body. Vitamin E is also helpful in lowering the risk of certain chronic diseases and delaying the body’s ageing process.
According to Dr Bruce Fife, an author, speaker, certified nutritionist, and naturopathic physician, “red palm oil not only supplies fatty acids essential for proper growth and development, but it is packed with an assortment of vitamins, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients important for good health. Red palm oil gets its name from its characteristic dark red colour. The colour comes from carotenes such as beta-carotene and lycopene — the same nutrients that give tomatoes and carrots and other fruits and vegetables their rich red and orange colours”.
Continuing modern research is revealing that the antioxidants found in red palm oil can be of help in protecting against a variety of health problems including osteoporosis, asthma, cataract, macular degeneration, arthritis and liver disease.
Palm oil comes from the fruit of the oil palm (Elaesis guineensis), a native plant in Africa which is today, grown in the hot, humid equatorial belt, particularly Southeast Asia, West Africa and South America. Malaysia is one of the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil.
While the fruit of the oil palm produces two types of oil, one from fibrous outer layer called mesocarp and another from the fruit kernel, it is the former that we usually refer to when speaking about palm oil. Crude palm oil has lots of residue and a strong, pungent smell. It needs to be refined and processed to create oil for use in the various forms.
During the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, the people in rural areas depended largely on palm oil for daily use.
Home economist and queen of nyonya cuisine Florence Tan, told me that the people then had little choice. After all, oil palm fruit was more easily available but the crude oil extracted, was smelly and had to be sieved first before it can be considered for use.
Today, red palm oil is readily available on supermarket shelves under the brand name Carotino.
“I first saw Carotino when it was first introduced into the market. It reminded me immediately of the crude palm oil that we had to make do with during the Japanese Occupation,” says Florence.
“Everything was in short supply then and our Malay neighbours in Malacca told my parents to try the palm oil, saying it’s very nutritious. Of course in those days, it was just crude palm oil and was rather smelly as it wasn’t processed.”
Today, she is a great advocate for the use of palm oil. “I use it every day. It’s great for making salad dressings like Thousand Island. I use it to bake breads and carrot cake. Oh, you should see the colour of the carrot cake... beautiful!
When you fry eggs with it, it adds a lovely sheen... and use it for fried rice and tomato rice,” she says enthusiastically.
She admits there are certain limitations, especially where Chinese style stirfried green vegetables are concerned, or dishes like Cantonese fried noodles. “But you can use it for mixed vegetables with no problems,” she says.
“When the Chinese see the oil, they immediately think of the red-coloured oil used to light prayer lamps. At that time, everybody thought corn oil and sunflower oil were the best. But now, the younger generation is much more receptive and they know which oil is better for their health.”
http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/health/oil-with-multiple-uses-1.404763
