How Bad are Tropical Oils?
For: How to Choose a Vegetable Oil, September 2003
Perhaps no episode in the great fats debate generated more hysteria than the fight over tropical oils in the late 1980s. Unlike other oils derived from plants, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and, to a lesser extent, palm oil are high in saturated fats. All fats are mixtures of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, but tropical oils contain a higher proportion of saturated fats than any other fat. Before the brouhaha, these oils were sometimes used in this country for frying and in cookies, crackers, and other processed foods.
But concern was rising about our high consumption of saturated fats. Moreover, American soybean and corn growers objected to the competition from imported oils. Tropical oils come mainly from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and they have some advantages in extending the shelf life of foods. Their use was not widespread— tropical oils were never a major source of fat intake in this country. However, you may recall Phil Sokolof, the angry millionaire and victim of a heart attack, who took out full-page newspaper ads in the late 1980s proclaiming that tropical oils were "poisoning America." (Though no one has been able to connect Sokolof with the American corn and soybean lobby, he certainly served their interests.) He had founded a group called the American Heart Savers Association, which along with the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington declared war on tropical oils. Eventually the cause was taken up by the National Cholesterol Education Program and the U.S. Congress.
The more things change . . .
Everybody shied away from tropical oils as if from, well, poison. Health-conscious people stopped eating coconut, even refused to go into Thai restaurants because a lot of Thai dishes use coconut, and avoided hearts-of-palm (which contain no palm oil anyway). Now tropical oils have all but disappeared from the American diet. However, they have been replaced with something worse—partially hydrogenated oils containing trans fats, which behave like saturated fats in the body, except that unlike saturated fats, trans fats actually lower HDL ("good") cholesterol. Furthermore, manufacturers are not even required to list trans fats on food labels (the FDA did recently announce that it will begin to require the listing of trans fat content by late 2003).
In 1989 the Wellness Letter warned about coconut, palm, and palm kernel oil because of their high saturated fat content (we cautioned about butter, eggs, and steak, too). But we did say this: "the claim that tropical oils are ‘poisoning’ us is irresponsible, and such scare tactics only distract from more important issues. Tropical oils supply just a small portion of the saturated fat in the average American diet."
What we know now
Furthermore, research now indicates that palm oil behaves like an unsaturated fat in the body—that is, it may help reduce blood cholesterol levels. In other studies, palmitic acid (the main fatty acid in palm oil) has tested neutral—it doesn’t do anything to blood cholesterol. Coconut oil also seems to be neutral in most people. Older studies that showed coconut oil increasing the risk of heart attack were flawed. In addition, lauric acid (the main fatty acid in coconut oil) may have some health benefits. In lab studies, it seems to protect against liver damage, and it may even help quell inflammation.
Finally, in countries where tropical oils make up a large part of the fats consumed (Nigeria and Costa Rica, for example, or Polynesia) heart disease rates are lower than in this country, where little or no tropical oil is consumed.
We’re not telling you to start consuming a lot of tropical oils, but rather than worrying about the coconut on top of the cake, worry about the sugar, shortening, and empty calories. And watch out for those hydrogenated oils (and trans fats) that took the place of the tropical oils in so many packaged foods.
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, January 2003
