What are 'tropical oils'?

Although “tropical oils” are often assumed to be palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, there is no legal or technical definition of the term “tropical oils”.

What are vegetable oils?

Vegetable oils are oils derived from plant sources. Examples are palm oil, corn oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil.

In what products is palm oil used?

Palm oil is used in such products as bread and rolls, pancakes, waffles, crackers, ready to eat cereals, chips, popcorn, biscuits, tarts, cakes, pies, canned puddings, chocolates, coffee whitener, nondairy toppings, infant formulas, cocoa mixes, fried potatoes and onions, soups, gravies and frozen and dry mix entrees. Palm oil is also especially useful in the manufacture of margarines, since it imparts natural colouring and a high glyceride content without hydrogenation. As a frying fat, palm oil has a high resistance to oxidation and does not leave an unpleasant room odour, due to the absence of linolenic acid in its composition.

What is the difference between palm oil and palm kernel oil?

Palm oil is found in the fleshy portion of the fruit (mesocarp), whereas palm kernel oil is found in the kernel or seed of the fruit. The two oils have very different fatty acid compositions. Palm oil is 50% saturated fat and 50% unsaturated fat. More specifically, palm oil contains approximately 44% palmitic acid, 5% stearic acid, 39% oleic acid (monounsaturates), and 10% linoleic acid (polyunsaturates). Myristic acid and lauric acid are negligible.

Conversely, the fatty acid composition of palm kernel oil resembles coconut oil, or what one generally thinks of when the term ‘saturated fat’ is used. Approximately 82% of palm kernel oil is saturated fat with the main contributors being 48% lauric acid, 16% myristic acid, and 8% palmitic acid. Approximately 18% of palm kernel oil is unsaturated fat with 15% oleic acid (monounsaturates) and 3% linoleic acid (polyunsaturates).

The specific fatty acids were provided as current research suggests that all saturated fat cannot be simply classified as “bad” in relation to blood cholesterol levels. Each fatty acid demonstrates its unique characteristic on cholesterol regulation. Please see “Are all saturated fats bad?” for more information.



How does palm oil differ from other oils?

Palm oil, unlike other oils, is composed of 44% palmitic acid. Palmitic acid is a C16 saturated fatty acid, and is now found to be less hypercholesterolemic than saturated fatty acids in the range of C12 to C14. In addition, palm oil is much less saturated than other oils, such as coconut and palm kernel oil. Because palm oil contains roughly equal amounts of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids it can be considered to be a balanced fat.



What gives palm oil its red colour?

Palm oil naturally contains carotenes (pro-vitamin A) which give it a red colour. Palm oil carotenoids have alpha-carotene and beta-carotene distribution that is comparable with that of carrots. (The refined red palm oil that is available in some food stores in the US has 15 times the amounts of carotenes compared to carrots and 300 times more than tomatoes). Approximately 1 tablespoon of red palm oil meets 100% of the adult reference dietary intake (RDI). Furthermore, some animal studies have found that carotenoids may have beneficial effects in reducing the risk of cancer and coronary heart disease.