Saturated Fatty Acids on Palm Oil is not a Cause of Heart Disease

The last annual meeting of Indonesian Occupational Medicine Specialist Association (Perdoki) in Yogyakarta has reaffirmed common view that palm oil is not a cause of heart disease. Prof Dr Ir Sri Raharjo MSc said the assumption that saturated fatty acids contained in palm oil can cause heart disease by increasing cholesterol is not entirely correct.

Saturated Fatty Acids on Palm Oil is not a Cause of Heart Disease

The last annual meeting of Indonesian Occupational Medicine Specialist Association (Perdoki) in Yogyakarta has reaffirmed common view that palm oil is not a cause of heart disease. Prof Dr Ir Sri Raharjo MSc said the assumption that saturated fatty acids contained in palm oil can cause heart disease by increasing cholesterol is not entirely correct. The misperception about palm oil impact to heart disease has already spread in public for more than 30 years. As a result, some people think that palm oil must be avoided to reduce saturated fatty acids in order to prevent heart disease. “The latest facts have proved that wrong,” Sri Raharjo said. The annual scientific meeting of Perdoki was held at Melia Purosani Yogyakarta, Sunday (23/9/2018), with the theme “The Role of Occupational Medicine in Keeping The Workers in Their Job.” Sri Raharjo explained that the link between the saturated fatty acids and heart disease is not entirely correct. Furthermore, Sri claimed that palm oil is much better than other vegetable oil. According to him, recent research showed no significant impact of reducing the use of palm oil to decrease number of heart diseases caused by cholesterol. “Recent studies shows that the real picture is more complicated than that. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-the Netherlands Cohort stated the correlation between dietary saturated fatty acids and ischaemic heart disease depends on the type and source of fatty acids. Furthermore, some recent research found that there is no link between saturated fat and heart disease,` he said. The Professor of Faculty of agricultural technology of Gadjah Mada University also argued that palm oil doesn’t contain trans fat free but contains proportional saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.  (Source: Tribunjogja.com).