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For health and respect for the environment, that could be the answer to the title of this article. In Toldos Guardamar we like to take care of you and give you good advice for your daily life and today we have to talk about palm oil, a guest who has been sitting at our table for a long time and that the food industry uses to replace materials like butter, more expensive, in the development of many products.
A study published in a prestigious journal has addressed the issue of palm oil. It has been published that this oil is rich in saturated fatty acids and does not appear on the list of the most recommended for consumption. Palmitic, a component of this oil, is related to an increase in LDL cholesterol levels, being a cardiovascular risk factor, which in itself has triggered alarms.
Also, from the European Food Safety Authority have stated that this kind of oil has carcinogenic molecules when heated to temperatures above 200 degrees.
It is found in many of the products that we can spread such as margarine, vegetable patés, cocoa cream and cheese derivatives among others; but we can also find it in dry soups, industrial pastries, chocolates, pizzas, creams, lasagna, ice cream, desserts, toppings for sweets, appetizers, snacks, etc.
Until 2004, when the obligatory nature of a labeling was established in which all the information about the product appears, we could not know exactly what each one contained. Now, we can see its presence with names like palm butter, palmolein, palm olein, palm stearin, oil or palm kernel fat or directly with its scientific name, Elareis guineensis.
The other reason is because the cultivation of palm has a great environmental impact, causing the deforestation of the tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia, where 85% of the world production comes from.