Tropical oils: balancing health benefits with risks—a comprehensive review sheds light on coconut and palm oil's impact on nutrition, disease prevention, and long-term health concerns.
Study: Tropical oils consumption and health: a scoping review to inform the development of guidelines in tropical regions. Image Credit: Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock.com
A recent study published in BMC Public Health reviewed the benefits and challenges of tropical oils.
Tropical oils, such as coconut and palm oil, have a cultural and historical significance and are integral to local cuisines in Africa. While tropical oils are notable for their unique qualities, their consumption has been contentious, necessitating scrutiny of their health benefits and concerns.
Palm oil has diverse applications in cosmetics, food, and other industries. It has a prominent position in tropical regions due to its economic significance, albeit the high levels of saturated fats have raised concerns.
Coconut oil is also popular in the tropics and has various applications in medicine, foods, and cosmetics. However, concerns regarding coconut oil intake are primarily related to its high levels of saturated fats.
While some studies have suggested positive and negative health outcomes associated with tropical oils, others have linked their consumption to a higher cardiovascular risk. As such, it is imperative to evaluate the health implications of tropical oils.
About the study
In the present study, researchers performed a scoping review to evaluate the health benefits and challenges of tropical oil consumption. Relevant studies were searched for in the JSTOR, PubMed, Central, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Dimensions AI databases.
Eligible studies examined benefits and challenges related to tropical oils or used primary data and reviews. Exclusions were preprints, commentaries, conference papers, editorials, letters, and pre-2015 publications.
After records were duplicated, titles/abstracts were screened, and full texts were reviewed. Data on study characteristics, population, health benefits, and challenges of consuming tropical oils were extracted.
Subsequently, a thematic analysis was performed to explore the common benefits and challenges from selected studies. Further, a narrative synthesis was undertaken to investigate the trends in the literature.
Findings
The search protocol yielded more than 7,000 records. Following deduplication and title/abstract screening, 64 records were selected for full-text review.
Finally, 27 studies were selected for the scoping review. Palm and coconut oil were the most studied tropical oils, evaluated in 13 studies each. Most studies were performed in Malaysia.
Twenty-one studies were reviews, three were randomized controlled trials, and the remainder were qualitative studies, cross-sectional surveys, or experimental designs.
The benefits of tropical oils were stratified into nutritional and pharmacological benefits. Palm oil contains vitamins A and E. Vitamin A helps ocular rewetting, while vitamin E is crucial for overall health.
Coconut oil and palm oil contain nutrients essential for growth. Besides, palm oil has been used in infant milk preparations, highlighting its role in infant nutrition. Overall, tropical oils have a significantly important role in producing processed foods. Pharmacological benefits of tropical oils were grouped into preclinical and clinical benefits.
Palm oil consumption correlated with weight loss and body fat reduction. By contrast, consuming palm kernel oil can lead to weight gain.
Tropical oils have wound-healing, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Further, palm oil has been reported to lower blood sugars and the risk of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.
Coconut oil was found to improve cognition, strengthen immunity, and be effective in obesity management. Coconut and palm oil have been linked to reducing cholesterol and helping prevent coronary heart diseases. Further, palm kernel oil has been linked to neuromotor development, whereas palm oil has been associated with a reduced cancer risk.
The challenges or concerns with tropical oils were organized into various themes. Repeated or protracted use of palm oil at high temperatures can degrade vitamin E. Palm oil processing and refining eliminate vitamin E, leading to potential deficiencies.
On the other hand, increased palm oil intake can lead to vitamin E overdose and elevate the risk of diabetes mellitus. Further, it has been reported that palm oil generates reactive oxygen species, which can damage DNA.
Excessive palm oil intake has been linked to high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, some cancers, and acrylamide formation at frying temperatures.
Besides, increased consumption of coconut and palm oil was associated with a higher prevalence of obesity. The use of compromised materials in palm oil production can reduce oil quality, and variations in palm oil processing have been linked to microbial contamination.
Conclusions
In sum, tropical oils have several health benefits (in ocular health, immunity, and growth) and possess antioxidant, wound-healing, and anti-inflammatory properties.
These oils help manage obesity and reduce cholesterol and blood sugar. Nevertheless, prolonged consumption of tropical oils may degrade vitamin E, while increased use may lead to vitamin overdose.
Additional health concerns include risks of cancer, diabetes, acrylamide formation, hypertension, and coronary heart disease.
Overall, the findings highlight the health benefits and challenges of tropical oils and emphasize the need for education, quality control, and moderation of their production and consumption.
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