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Giving Up Palm Oil Might Actually Be Bad for the Environment

The $40 billion palm oil industry is notorious for wiping out rainforests, displacing indigenous peoples, spewing carbon into the atmosphere and driving the orangutan and other animals toward extinction. But consumers who want to avoid palm oil have an almost impossible task because it’s in everything from ice cream to instant ramen, toothpaste to lipstick. And it’s increasingly apparent that even if they could boycott the stuff, that might not be so wise: As destructive as the oil palm is to the environment, it may be better than the alternatives. No other crop can yield even a third as much oil per acre planted. And along with using less land, the oil palm gobbles up significantly fewer…

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Featured

  Palm oil is actually not that bad (anymore)

Palm oil once destroyed orangutan-filled rainforests in Southeast Asia. Now, the industry is cleaning up its act.

  The reasons why palm oil is so controversial

When it comes to cooking oils, palm oil is typically considered the most controversial of the options - for both health and environmental reasons.

 Here's why you really need to start paying attention to palm oil

It seems like everyone is talking about palm oil right now. But what’s all the fuss about? It’s a vegetable oil extracted from the fruit of oil palms and used in everything from food to cleaning products and fuel, and is mostly grown in Africa, Asia and North and South America. This may not sound controversial on the face of it, but palm oil has recently become a symbol of all the worst things humans are doing to the planet.

 Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet. Instead It Unleashed a Catastrophe.

A decade ago, the U.S. mandated the use of vegetable oil in biofuels, leading to industrial-scale deforestation — and a huge spike in carbon emissions.

 The World’s Thirst for Palm Oil Is About To Destroy Asia’s Largest Remaining Rainforest

The demand could spell disaster for Indonesia’s Papua province.

Articles of Interest

How the world got hooked on palm oil

It’s the miracle ingredient in everything from biscuits to shampoo. But our dependence on palm oil has devastating environmental consequences. Is it too late to break the habit?

Our love of palm oil is destroying forests. Here’s how to use less of it.

Even if you’ve never held a container of palm oil, you’ve probably purchased this ingredient in some form. The most commonly-used vegetable oil, it finds its way into food, cosmetics, and biofuel. Which is bad news for the world’s forests.

By the way, doctor: Is palm oil good for you?

Food manufacturers and restaurants have needed to find alternatives. One of them is palm oil. It's less saturated than butter and contains no trans fat. But just because it's not as bad as trans fat doesn't make it a health food. According to Harvard nutrition experts, palm oil is clearly better than high–trans fat shortenings and probably a better choice than butter. But vegetable oils that are naturally liquid at room temperature, such as olive oil and canola oil, should still be your first choice.

Everything to Know About Palm Oil and Why It Might Be Bad for You

Palm oil is in almost everything—but does palm oil have any redeeming health benefits?

From rainforest to your cupboard: the real story of palm oil - interactive

You wash with it, you brush with it, you toast it, it’s in 50% of what you buy – but what’s the real story of palm oil? Use the interactive below to trace the journey of palm oil from the rainforest through to your kitchen cupboard.

Hold the Cookies, Save the Climate

Everyone knows meat is bad for the environment. But so is an ingredient commonly found in junk food.

How palm oil became the world’s most hated, most used fat source

Palm oil consumption grew as competitors dropped away: first whale oil in the 1960s, then fats like tallow and lard. In the 1970s and 1980s, health concerns about tropical oils such as coconut and palm undercut demand in Europe and North America. But developing countries snapped up palm oil for frying and baking.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer, has a palm-oil crisis

Ukraine, the pandemic and local profiteers get the blame.

Is Palm Oil Bad for You?

So, while palm oil isn't as unhealthy as trans fats, it's better to choose healthier cooking oil options when you prepare food at home or eat out, such as olive oil.

Is Palm Oil Bad For You? Nutrition Facts, Sustainability & How It Compares To Other Oils

Before digging into the merits (and potential drawbacks) of palm oil, let's back up for a second and discuss what it actually is. Palm oil is a vegetable oil that's made from the fruit of the oil palm tree. There's crude palm oil, which is made by squeezing the fruit, and palm kernel oil, which is made by crushing the stone (or kernel) in the middle of the fruit. Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world...

Is Palm Oil Bad For You? Why Many Products Avoid Using Palm Oil

Palm oil is healthier than certain oils and fats that are used for cooking, such as lard, shortening, margarine, and potentially even butter (this last one may be somewhat controversial). The reason that palm oil is healthier than these other cooking fats is that it does not contain any trans fats and contains less saturated fat.

Palm Oil for the West, Exploitation for Young Workers in Malaysia

As demand for the substance grows, thousands of child workers toil in the palm fruit trade.

Palm Oil Health Hazards

Palm oil features as a star ingredient in West African dishes dating back more than 5,000 years. As one of the more inexpensive cooking oils available, it's found in many ready-to-eat foods available in grocery stores and the earthy taste makes it popular with cooks across the globe.

Palm Oil Health ~ Is Palm Oil Bad for You? Pros and Cons

Since the artificial trans fat ban went into effect in the United States, companies needed to find other cheap alternatives. They used trans fats because they were cheap. Now they’ve turned to palm oil.

Researchers Probe the Potential Health Benefits of Palm Oil

Palm oil has a pretty bad reputation. The product of this hard-shell red fruit, harvested primarily on plantations in Southeast Asia, is typically used as cheap cooking oil for fried foods like noodles and curry puffs. Indeed, by the time the palm oil is processed, much of its nutritional value is destroyed. And the fact that it can congeal at room temperature makes it even look extra artery clogging.

Why is Palm Oil Bad?

Palm oil is bad because it is harmful to the environment. The industry has a history of unsustainable farming practices, unfair labor practices, and had been the cause of wide-scale deforestation. Today, palm oil is estimated to be in more than half of all packaged goods in the United States, from chocolate, peanut butter cups, and gummy candies to shampoo and even baby formula. This commonly used ingredient (and its derivatives) goes by many different names, which can make it harder to identify on product labels. You might see it as Vegetable Oil, Palmate, Palmolein, Glyceryl Stearate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and even Hydrated Palm Glycerides (just to name a few).

Resources

Palm Done Right

The health benefits and healing qualities of red palm oil were so prized by pharaohs of ancient Egypt that they were entombed with it in order to have access to it in the afterlife.