Palm oil

Studies in people

• No harm found

  Dietary fat and cancer²

  Experts found no evidence linking eating palm oil to higher cancer risk in people.

• No harm found

  Saturated fat and health³

  Palm oil is high in saturated fats, but no evidence shows it harms children's health.

• Open question

  Heart disease risk⁴

  Scientists do not yet know whether eating palm oil raises the risk of heart disease.

• Open question

  Blood cholesterol levels⁵

  Palm oil's effect on blood fats depends on what oil or fat it replaces in your diet.

• No harm found

  Blood sugar control⁶

  In healthy adults, swapping palm oil for other vegetable oils made little or no difference to blood sugar.

• Concern

  Cholesterol levels⁷

  Palm oil raised cholesterol a little compared with other cooking oils, but the evidence is low to moderate quality.

• Concern

  Heart risk in diabetes⁹

  In women with type 2 diabetes, a palm oil meal raised certain blood fats after eating.

• Benefit

  Blood cholesterol levels¹⁰

  In people, cooking with palm oil enriched with plant sterols lowered total and LDL cholesterol.

• Benefit

  Cholesterol levels in people¹¹

  In people, palm oil lowered total and LDL cholesterol, while lard raised them.

• Benefit

  Margarine and cholesterol¹²

  In young women, palm oil margarine raised good cholesterol more than trans-fat margarine, but polyunsaturated margarine lowered bad cholesterol most.

• No harm found

  Blood fats after eating¹³

  In young women, palm oil in a meal did not change blood fat and insulin responses compared with lard or margarine.

• Benefit

  Blood sugar after eating¹⁴

  In people with diabetes, palm oil lowered blood sugar two hours after eating it.

Animal and lab studies only

• Concern

  Gut inflammation¹⁶

  In lab studies, palm oil helped gut bacteria bits cross the gut lining and switch on inflammation.

• Open question

  Heart disease deaths¹⁸

  A 20% palm oil tax in India could prevent many heart deaths but may leave some short of food.

Study type not stated

• Open question

  Heart and blood vessel health¹⁵

  Palm oil seems to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, but oxidized palm oil may affect organs.

How it’s made and used

• Foods containing it⁸

  People in Spain and Germany eat palm oil mainly in biscuits, cakes, bread, cereal and margarine.

• Heart health¹⁷

  In lab tests, palm oil gels were like beef fat in texture, and mixed-oil gels had less saturated fat.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.