National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.
Indian J Med Res. 1995 Nov;102:233-40.
To boost the edible oil production and attain self-sufficiency, one of the long-term strategies undertaken by the Indian government is promotion of palm oil production through oil palm cultivation. Compared to other traditional oils (except coconut oil) used in India, palm oil and palmolein have high saturated fatty acids and low linoleic acid levels. Studies conducted to evaluate the nutritional and health implications of substituting other oils with palmolein show that despite having low linoleic acid, the use of palm oil may not adversely affect the linoleic acid status of Indian population. Substitution of groundnut oil with palmolein in cereal based lactovegetarian diets providing about 30 per cent total fat calories, doubles the saturated fatty acids and reduces by half the linoleic acid content. The effects of this substitution in volunteers from the middle income group did not raise serum cholesterol and aggregability of platelets indicating that palm oil may not produce the deleterious effects associated with saturated fatty acids. The tocols present in palm oil are natural biological antioxidants and can therefore augment the antioxidant potential of Indian diets. Red palm oil is the richest natural source of carotenes which are powerful biological antioxidants. The major carotene in red palm oil is beta-carotene. Therefore, red palm oil can be used to prevent vitamin A deficiency which is widespread in India.
为提高食用油产量并实现自给自足，印度政府采取的长期战略之一是通过油棕种植来促进棕榈油生产。与印度使用的其他传统食用油（椰子油除外）相比，棕榈油和棕榈仁油的饱和脂肪酸含量高，亚油酸含量低。为评估用棕榈仁油替代其他食用油对营养和健康的影响而开展的研究表明，尽管棕榈油的亚油酸含量较低，但使用棕榈油可能不会对印度人群的亚油酸状况产生不利影响。在提供约30%总脂肪热量的谷类素食饮食中，用棕榈仁油替代花生油，会使饱和脂肪酸含量翻倍，亚油酸含量减半。对中等收入群体志愿者进行的这种替代效应研究表明，棕榈油不会提高血清胆固醇水平，也不会增加血小板聚集性，这表明棕榈油可能不会产生与饱和脂肪酸相关的有害影响。棕榈油中的生育酚是天然生物抗氧化剂，因此可以增强印度饮食的抗氧化能力。红棕榈油是最丰富的天然胡萝卜素来源，而胡萝卜素是强大的生物抗氧化剂。红棕榈油中的主要胡萝卜素是β-胡萝卜素。因此，红棕榈油可用于预防在印度广泛存在的维生素A缺乏症。
