Is palm oil bad for you? Health and environmental facts

Palm oil is not dangerous in the amounts found in a normal diet, but it is not a health food either. Roughly half of its fat is saturated, which the WHO advises limiting, and refining creates some contaminants at higher levels than in other oils. Its biggest problem is environmental: oil palm plantations have replaced large areas of tropical forest.

What is palm oil and why is it in so much food?

Palm oil is pressed from the fruit of the oil palm. Palm kernel oil is a different oil, made from the seed inside the fruit. Both turn up in a huge range of packaged foods because they have useful properties for manufacturers:

• Semi-solid at room temperature, which gives spreads, cookies and pastries their texture without hydrogenation.
• Stable when heated and slow to go rancid, so products last longer.
• Neutral taste and smell.
• Cheap, because the oil palm produces a lot of oil from a small area of land.

You will often find it in chocolate spreads, cookies, cakes and pastries, margarine, chips, instant noodles, ready meals, breakfast cereals and many cosmetics too.

Palm oil health effects: what the evidence says

Saturated fat

Palm oil is unusual among plant oils because it contains a high proportion of saturated fat, roughly half of its total fat. Palm kernel oil is even more saturated. The WHO recommends that no more than 10% of your daily energy comes from saturated fat, and lists palm and coconut oil next to butter, cream, cheese and lard as sources. It says unsaturated fats, found in oils such as olive, sunflower, canola (rapeseed) and soybean, are preferable.

In practice, palm oil is less saturated than butter or coconut oil and more saturated than olive or rapeseed oil. Swapping it for a hydrogenated fat would be worse, because hydrogenation can create trans fats. Swapping it for an oil rich in unsaturated fat is better.

Processing contaminants

In 2016 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reviewed three substances that form when vegetable oils are refined at high temperatures (about 200°C): glycidyl fatty acid esters, 3-MCPD and 2-MCPD. The highest levels were found in palm oils and palm fats. EFSA concluded that glycidol, released from glycidyl esters, is genotoxic and carcinogenic, and it was particularly concerned about babies fed only on infant formula, other young age groups and people with high intakes.

Since then, the EU has set maximum levels for glycidyl esters and 3-MCPD in vegetable oils and fats, with much lower limits for infant formula and baby foods, and producers have changed refining methods to reduce them. This is a good reason not to rely heavily on palm-based processed foods, but it is not a reason to panic about an occasional cookie.

Is palm oil bad for the environment?

This is where most of the concern comes from. Oil palm grows in tropical regions, and Indonesia and Malaysia are the largest producers. The expansion of plantations has caused large-scale deforestation, loss of habitat for endangered species such as orangutans, and greenhouse gas emissions, especially when carbon-rich peatlands are drained or burned.

There is a catch, though. Oil palm produces much more oil per hectare than crops like soybean, sunflower or rapeseed. Replacing it entirely would mean using more land elsewhere, which could move the damage rather than stop it. That is why many environmental groups push for better-produced palm oil rather than a full boycott.

Sustainable palm oil: what does RSPO mean?

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certifies palm oil produced to its environmental and social standards. It is the best-known scheme, though critics argue its rules and enforcement do not go far enough. The label on a product depends on the supply chain model the company uses:

How to spot palm oil on food labels

In the EU and UK, the ingredient list must name the plant an oil comes from, so palm oil cannot hide behind "vegetable oil". In other places, such as Australia and New Zealand, it can legally be listed simply as "vegetable oil" or "vegetable fat". Look for these names:

• Palm oil, palm fat, palm kernel oil
• Palm olein, palm stearin, fractionated or hydrogenated palm oil
• Vegetable oil or vegetable fat (outside the EU and UK, the source may not be named)

Some emulsifiers and other ingredients, such as mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E471), can be made from palm oil or from other fats. The label usually does not say which, so a product can contain palm-derived ingredients without the words "palm oil" appearing anywhere.

Should you avoid palm oil?

From a health point of view, the oil itself matters less than the foods it usually comes in. Products high in palm oil tend to be cookies, pastries, spreads and snacks that are also high in sugar or salt, and many are ultra-processed foods. Cutting back on those helps your diet whether or not they contain palm oil.

If the environment is your main concern, choose products that use certified segregated or identity-preserved palm oil, or compare alternatives. "Palm oil free" is not automatically greener or healthier: a product made with coconut oil can be just as high in saturated fat. When choosing between snacks, our guide to choosing a healthy snack helps you compare the whole label.