Inexpensive and profitable to manufacture, palm oil is found in a variety of foods that we eat on a daily basis. Someone’s indication in the composition of this ingredient will stop them from buying, while others will not attach any importance to it. Why is palm oil harmful and is there any benefit from it?
Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the oil palm. There is a more expensive and useful oil from the seeds of this tree, but it is not used in our products.
The oil from the pulp of the tree is inexpensive, has a creamy pleasant taste and aroma, so it is excellent for confectionery (and not only), which is what manufacturers use. Products with the addition of palm oil have a long shelf life, keep their shape due to their tight structure and are inexpensive.
When making fast food, palm oil is also beneficial to use, since it does not burn at standard temperatures, like sunflower oil, for example, and therefore you can cook fried foods without fear of releasing carcinogens. And this is the last good news about palm oil.
It is precisely because of its refractoriness that palm oil poses a great danger to a person who constantly uses it. In order for the oil to melt, it needs a temperature above 40 degrees, and when it gets into the stomachs of people, at a temperature of 36,6, it remains in the form of plasticine, is poorly digested and settles on the mucous membranes of the internal organs.
Also, palm oil contains saturated fatty acids and the use of products with the addition of oil increases their content in our bodies fivefold. As a result, an increase in cholesterol levels, the risk of diseases of the cardiovascular system.
Because of its pleasant taste, palm oil products attract customers and the content of this oil is often ignored. Hence the excess calorie intake, overweight problems and literally “drug addict” dependence on sweets.
Of particular danger is palm oil in baby food, since a child’s body with an immature gastrointestinal tract is not able to digest and accept such a heavy product, and is also addictive.
Palm oil contains a large amount of vitamin A, but due to the high melting point, the vitamin is completely destroyed and not absorbed.
The allowed intake of palm oil is 10 percent of the daily intake of fat. It is advisable to minimize the use of this ingredient if it cannot be completely eliminated.
The main products with the addition of palm oil are cookies, sweets, chocolate, condensed milk, milk fat substitutes, crackers, croutons, chips, hamburgers, fries, corn sticks, mayonnaise, cheese curds, soup mixes, instant noodles.