L’huile de palme : aspects nutritionnels et métaboliques. Rôle sur le risque cardiovasculaire

Palm oil is a solid vegetable oil, rich in saturated fatty acids (50 %), mainly in palmitic acid. However its contains also 50 % of unsaturated fatty acids, and is rich in tocotrienols and carotenoids partly altered by refining and heating. Its effects on fasting and post-prandial plasma lipids and on other parameters linked to the cardiovascular risk are reviewed in this work. These effects are more favourable than Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils on LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol, less favourable on LDL cholesterol than polyunsaturated oils, similar to monounsaturated oils. Epidemiological studies are rare and of poor quality. These data are discussed with highlights on the actual point of view on the role of saturated fatty acids in cardiovascular risk. An increasing and excessive intake of palm oil in our diet, through manufactured products, could be deleterious. However the real consumption of palm oil is not well known. Finally its technological and physico-chemical properties give it a true interest for some uses. So it is necessary to consider each use with the subsidiary principle in order to avoid the going back of trans fatty acids.