Palm oil can be part of a balanced, heart-healthy diet, says US varsity professor
Palm oil is often misunderstood, but science shows it can be part of a balanced, heart-healthy diet, according to James Brooks, a Clemson University professor and nutrition expert.
In his talk titled ‘Malaysian Palm Oil in Today’s Market: Functional Nutrition, Flavour and the Future of Oils and Fats Technologies’ at the ‘Globoil India 2025’ in Mumbai, he said palm oil’s unique structure, rich vitamin E profile and versatility make it a vital component in addressing global food and nutrition needs.
India’s National Mission on Edible Oils-Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMEO) is a case in point, advancing the nation’s goals of farmer welfare, self-reliance and sustainability and making palm oil relevant not just nutritionally but also economically, he said.
Stating that ‘fear of fats’, which has dominated dietary advice since the 1950s, is scientifically unfounded, he said palm oil deserves recognition as a valuable component of a healthy diet.
Well-balanced composition
Tracing today’s fat phobia back to researcher Ancel Keys’ ‘lipid-heart hypothesis’ from the 1950s, he said Keys’ ‘The Seven Countries Study’ launched a global movement to slash all fats from diets, including total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, and replacing them with polyunsaturated fats to reduce heart disease risk.
Citing Ateneo de Manila University professor and chemist, Fabian M Dayrit, and American physician, Mary T Newport (2024), Brooks said this hypothesis failed to distinguish between industrial trans fats and natural saturated fats, assumed all saturated fats had equal effects, and relied only on linoleic acid as the representative polyunsaturated fat. Clinical studies confirmed cholesterol could be lowered, but they did not show a reduction in cardiovascular disease, he said.
Brooks said palm oil offers a well-balanced fatty acid composition (50 per cent saturated, 40 per cent monounsaturated, and 10 per cent polyunsaturated), is naturally free of trans fats and cholesterol, and is uniquely rich in vitamin E tocotrienols, which are powerful antioxidants with anti-inflammatory, cardio-protective and neuroprotective potential.
Part of balanced diet
Several researchers, including Teh et al (2018), Wang (2019) and Marangoni et al (2017), confirm that palm oil has neutral to beneficial effects on blood lipids and performs comparably to oils such as olive, sunflower and canola, he said.
Linking these insights to the Indian context, Brooks said the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute for Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) released its Dietary Guidelines for India in 2024, concluding that fats play a crucial role in the diet, and that balancing fat intake is essential to optimise health outcomes. The guidelines advocate the moderate use of fats and oils, with the inclusion of a variety of plant-based sources to ensure a well-rounded intake of all essential fatty acids. The guidelines also affirmed palm oil’s nutritional value as part of a balanced diet.
He underlined that decades of research, including the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), demonstrate that simply reducing fat intake does not lower cardiovascular risk. Long-term follow-up of nearly 49,000 women showed that low-fat diets also failed to deliver meaningful weight loss or reduce the incidence of type-2 diabetes, further underscoring that fat restriction alone is not protective. Instead, nutrition science calls for a focus on fat quality and dietary balance, he added.
Published on September 26, 2025
