A first post and I wonder how many of you good people know a few things about Palm Oil, a substance which is now sneaked into many supermarket foods, just look at a few labels.
For example, the World Health Organisation is “convinced” palmitic acid “increases cardiovascular disease”, palmitic acid being the main constituent of palm oil. Other foodstuffs contain palmitic acid, which is a saturated fatty acid which reportedly increases bad LDL cholesterol levels, but at much much lower concentrations.
People who’ve analysed the WHO data concluded eating a kilo of the stuff per year significantly increases mortality rates, higher than road traffic deaths in the UK for example, so far too high. I found one UK manufacturer who admitted using 19000 tonnes per year of it.
You’ll find lots of other concerning data for it on the web and there is research linking it to cancer metastasis and diabetes.
So what can we do about it ? We can obviously read labels and make choices but I offer a couple of other suggestions. (Be careful because palm oil is sometimes hidden under other names like vegetable fat etc)
Supermarkets
Using the information above I asked 4 big UK supermarket chains what they are doing about it and mostly I just get fobbed off with loads of irrelevant answers and how it “has” to be used. The truth is these products were made long before palm oil arrived it’s just that it’s marginally cheaper than healthier fats and oils and they tell me it extends shelf life. So it would appear they are basically prioritising cost and shelf life over our health. You could write to them also to convey your displeasure and demand action.
IChemE
One of our UK based institutions actively supports and promotes the palm oil industry while being a charity whose stated main purpose is for “public benefit”. I have raised this with them as a member but am ignored. Go onto the charity commission’s web site below and submit an online complaint that this UK charity (number 214379) is not fulfilling its charitable role of being for public benefit when it ignores the WHO’s findings. Lets put pressure on bodies to do the right things for the public. Please choose what you eat carefully.
who.int/dietphysicalactivit...
withcompassion.com.au/palm-...
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
worldwidecancerresearch.org...