Palm oil is a quite controversial topic, see:
https://en.wikipedia...Palm_oil#Health
The studies are all very clear-cut. What further evidence do you need ?
That "controversy" has been around for as long as I can remember, since
my high school days during early 1970s.
Much has been said in the West to downplay palm oil as being cholesterolemic
and atherogenic due to its high saturated palimitic acid content, while promoting the
"healthier" polyunsaturated and monosaturated oils like corn, canola, soy..
Palm oil doesn't increase cholesterol, and in any case, cholesterol by itself doesn't
cause atherosclerosis - 50 per cent of heart attacks occur in the face of normal
cholesterol levels.
And even if palm oil does increase cholesterol moderately as shown by some studies,
the potent antiatherogenic activity of its inherent tocotrienols more than override that.
The Weston Price Foundation, headed by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig who advocate a
diet high in saturated fats, stresses that total cholesterol levels of 200 to 240 mg/dl are
pretty much normal.
http://www.westonapr...e-a-phony-issueThe TG/HDL ratio, as emphasized by Barry Sears in his Zone Diet concept, is a
far more important indicator. Mercola as well :
" I have seen a number of people with total cholesterol levels over 250 who actually were
at low heart disease risk due to their HDL levels.
Conversely, I have seen even more who had cholesterol levels under 200 that were at a very high risk of heart disease based on the following additional tests : * HDL/Cholesterol ratio
* Triglyceride/HDL ratiosHDL percentage is a very potent heart disease risk factor. Just divide your HDL level by
your cholesterol. That ratio should ideally be above 24 percent.
You can also do the same thing with your triglycerides and HDL ratio.
That percentage
should be below 2. "
http://articles.merc...ol-numbers.aspx" Butter and tropical fats - coconut, palm, palm kernel, cocoa, and shea nut - are safest
for frying, because they contain only small quantities of Essential Fatty-Acids(EFAs). \
The saturated fatty acids contained in these fats/oils are inert and therefore heat stable. "
" ...
. glaucoma is instead caused by a deficiency of of oxygen and blood flow..... the result of insufficient blood flow due to agglutination (clumping together)
of the red blood cells and waste buildup in the cells and intercellular fluids. "
" These blood-corpuscle clusters cannot squeeze through the extremely tiny
capillaries in the posterior of the eye, so cannot deliver oxygen to the mitochondria.
This is what the problem has been all along, and
if people continue to eat soy and canola oils, a lot more of them are going to experience vision irregularities - like retinitis and macula lutea degeneration. "
" Death of the mitochondria in the cells in the posterior of the eye is due to oxygen
starvation, sodium toxicity and waste accumulation. When the mitochondria die, the
cells die and the posterior eye tissues atrophy. In this respect,
glaucoma has much in common with hair loss, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and hearing problems. "
Fats That Can Be Safely Heated" Butter and tropical fats - coconut, palm, palm kernel, cocoa, and shea nut - are safest for
frying, because they contain only small quantities of Essential Fatty-Acids(EFAs). The
saturated fatty acids contained in these fats/oils are inert and therefore heat stable. "
" Tropical oils got a bad reputation for increasing cholesterol and triglyceride levels that
supposedly cause cardiovascular disease.
An unconfirmed rumor suggests that the soy bean industry financed the successful campaign against tropical fats to kill imports and increase soy bean sales. Tropical oils used in their country of origin have been
shown in several studies to decrease cholesterol levels. The difference in results may be
due to several causes : deterioration in tropical oils during storage (oxidation; processing
(hydrogenation); differing experimental design; or a combination of the above.
Rawtropical oils are rich sources of vitamin E and tocotrienols, which help protect arteries from damage leading to cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Olive oil imported from Italy is safe for baking but not for frying or deep frying. "
http://www.shirleys-....com/canola.htm"
When saturated fats are added to the diet, the undesirable effects of canola oilare mitigated. Most interesting of all is the fact that many studies show that theproblems with canola oil are not related to the content of erucic acid, but more with the high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and low levels of saturated fats. "
http://www.westonapr...e-great-con-olaRichard Passwater, whose link about tococtrienols has been given above, issued a
challenge at the back cover or his 1977 book, "Supernutrition For Healthy Hearts" :
" If anyone can step forward and prove that eating cholesterol causes heart disease,
I will donate all of the proceeds from my book to the American Heart Association. "http://www.drpasswat...sterolScam.htmlI don't believe he has ever had to make that donation to date.