Actually, both are not at the top of the healthy oil list.

Palm oil has 50% saturated fat. Palm Kernel Oil has 80%. These are very high values compared to oilve oil (14%) and canola oil (7%). Saturated fat is attributed to increasing the bad cholesterol (LDL) in our bloodstream thus raising the risk of heart disease.

Although both oils are from palm trees, they are actually 2 different types of oil. Palm oil comes from the fruit itself (reddish orange), whereas palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed (the white in the image above).

Palm oil (NOT palm kernel oil) isn’t all bad though, as it contains large quantities of oleic acid (40%), a healthy fatty acid also found in olive oil and canola oil. Palm oil also contains good levels of vitamin E.

Both palm oils are also at the center of a larger sustainability debate as rain forests are being cleared in order to grow the palm trees. The trend has accelerated in the last decade as palm oil has been used not just for human consumption but as a bio-fuel.

What to do at the supermarket:

Better options are canola and olive oils.

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