Explanation: Burning down forests lead to a loss of biodiversity, air pollution and climate change. Since oil palm trees grow in tropical climates near the equator, palm oil has been and continues to be a major driver of deforestation of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests.

Most palm oil plantations in South and Southeast Asia are created C. by clearcutting forests. The clearcutting of forests for palm oil plantations is becoming a major global issue, since it forces native plants and animals to relocate, creating mass havoc in ecosystems worldwide.

Palm oil (PO) is obtained from the flesh of the fruit and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) is produced by extracting the oil from the internal seed (Kernel). Oil palm is highly productive crop which is capable of yielding more oil from less land than any other vegetable oil in existence.

CO2 emissions – In preparing rainforest land for a palm oil plantation, the most valuable trees are cut down and removed first. What remains is cleared by burning. If the forest was on peatland – as is the case in much of Indonesia – the land is drained.

Palm oil has a high saturated fat content, which can be harmful to cardiovascular health. However, one study found that, when consumed as part of a balanced diet, “Palm oil does not have incremental risk for cardiovascular disease.”

But banning palm oil would mean that the demand for vegetable oil would have to be met through a higher production of other oil crops, such as soybean, sunflower, or rapeseed. Hence, replacing palm oil with other vegetable oils would lead to even higher losses of forest and other natural habitats.

THE European Union (EU) initially banned palm oil for use in biofuels out of a concern that oil palm cultivation accelerated deforestation and global warming. A University of Bath study compared palm oil to potential alternatives such as sunflower and soybean oil.

Under ideal conditions, high-yield oil palm cultivars can produce more than 25 times as much oil as soy can for the same area of farmland. Thus, ironically, a ban on palm oil would lead to a catastrophic increase in deforestation, as anything we replace it with will need much more land to grow on.

Environmentalists argue that this farming of oil palm trees is extremely bad for the planet. Palm oil production is said to have been responsible for about 8% of the world’s deforestation between 1990 and 2008. This is because forests are burned to clear areas where people can grow oil palms – even if it’s illegal.

Researchers warn against palm oil ban due to ‘large economic losses’ and risk of ‘even bigger environmental problems’ Switching over to other vegetable oils would likely exacerbate issues surrounding palm oil production, according to a new study.

Although coconut oil also contains palmitic acid, the ratio is much lower (about 9 times lower) and coconut oil’s saturated fat profile is much more balanced than palm oil. The health promoting effects of coconut oil exceed palm oil’s by a very large margin.

Other vegetable oils, IUCN study finds. A new IUCN report shows that while palm oil leads to deforestation and biodiversity losses, replacing it with other types of vegetable oils might be even worse for the environment.

It has a place in our diet because it doesn’t contain only saturated fats, so ultimately it doesn’t increase cholesterol that much, or at least if we consume it in moderation, the impact will either be non-existent or extremely low, or even better than with other fats, so let’s not dramatize this – palm oil is not an …

Peanut butters with palm oil Palm oil may increase your risk of heart disease if you’re limiting saturated fat in your diet ( 3 , 4 ). There are also some indirect public health effects of palm oil.

Palm oil is the most sustainable crop with a fully certified supply chain. It is the crop with the highest yield per hectare: 3.8 tonnes vs. 0.8 for rapeseed and 0.7 for sunflower and with the best life cycle assessment.

Palm oil has higher saturated fats and vitamin K whereas sunflower oil is higher in unsaturated fats and vitamin E. Sunflower oil is safer for overall health but more expensive.

Canola, Soy, Corn or Cottonseed oils To avoid GM oils…. wait for it….. BUY ORGANIC! As far as environmental concerns go, non-organic canola, soy, corn, and cottonseed plants get sprayed with pesticides, which could contaminate soil and water.

Palm oil is an incredibly efficient crop, producing more oil per land area than any other equivalent vegetable oil crop. Furthermore, palm oil is an important crop for the GDP of emerging economies and there are millions of smallholder farmers who depend on producing palm oil for their livelihood.

A recent report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, concluded that boycotting palm oil would merely shift – rather than counter – losses to rainforests and wildlife caused by agriculture. Indeed, soybean farming is already responsible for more than double the deforestation of palm oil.

Cadbury has bowed to consumer pressure and stopped using palm oil in its dairy milk chocolate. The confectionary giant caused a furore when it was revealed it had substituted cocoa butter with vegetable fat including palm oil.

To avoid palm oil, choose products that contain clearly labeled oils, such as 100 percent sunflower oil, corn oil, olive oil, coconut oil, or canola oil.

Burning is commonly used to clear forests for plantations. Fires in peatlands are difficult to extinguish, and the smoke has health consequences throughout Southeast Asia. Palm oil mills also generate lots of effluent, which can cause freshwater pollution and affect downstream biodiversity and people.

12 brands were sourcing from at least 20 of the palm oil groups: Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, L’Oreal, Mars, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever.

The main facts about palm oil Here are the main facts why palm oil plantations are harming the environment: They release massive amounts of CO2 in the air as rainforests are cleared. Rainforests’ soils hold about 45% of the world’s terrestrial carbon, cutting them down is like releasing a carbon bomb.

Damage to peatland, partly due to palm oil production, is claimed to contribute to environmental degradation, including four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and eight percent of all global emissions caused annually by burning fossil fuels, due to the clearing of large areas of rainforest for palm oil …

Palm oil is now the most widely used oil in the world. Food, household cleaners, personal care and cosmetics all contain it. But the way it’s grown is unsustainable. In order to clear land to grow palm, swathes of rainforest are burned, destroying habitat and homes and the fragile rainforest ecosystem.

Palm oil is used for preventing vitamin A deficiency, cancer, brain disease, aging; and treating malaria, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cyanide poisoning. Palm oil is used for weight loss and increasing the body’s metabolism. As food, palm oil is used for frying.

What is the difference between palm oil and palm kernel oil? Palm oil comes from the palm fruit, while palm kernel oil is extracted from the palm seed. And while over 80 percent of the fat in palm kernel oil is saturated, only 50 percent of palm oil is, making it easier on arteries.

The conversion of land to oil palm plantations alone is responsible for 40% of the loss of natural forest cover around the world. But exploring the source of this data shows that palm oil is actually responsible for only 2.3% of the world’s deforestation.

And the new road networks give poachers and wildlife smugglers better access to areas of forest where they capture and sell wild animals as pets, use them for medicinal purposes, or kill them for their body parts. Over 50,000 orangutans on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra have died because of palm oil deforestation.