Why You Need to Say NO To Palm Oil
Palm oil is a vegetable oil that has an unusually high saturated fat content.
In fact it’s saturated fat content is the same as butter (53%)! This is not healthy for many reasons, but in particular not healthy for your heart.
The other issue with palm oil is where it comes from and its effect on the environment.
Palm oil is found in hundreds of everyday products, from baked goods and confectionery to cosmetics and cleaning agents.
The following information comes from “Say No to Palm Oil”
Orangutans
Due to the massive international demand for palm oil, palm oil plantations are rapidly replacing the rainforest habitat of the critically endangered orangutan; with over 90% of their habitat already destroyed in the last 20 years.
Orangutans are some of our closest relatives, sharing approximately 97% of their DNA with humans.
It is estimated that 6 to 12 orangutans are killed each day for palm oil.
These gentle creatures are either killed in the deforestation process, when they wonder into a palm oil plantation looking for food, or in the illegal pet trade after they’ve been captured and kept as pets in extremely poor conditions and provided with extremely poor nutrition.
Environmental Impact
Palm oil is also having a shocking impact on our planet.
The production of this one vegetable oil is not only responsible for polluting rivers and causing land erosion, but when the plantation workers set fire to the remaining trees, shrubs and debris to make way for the oil palms, it produces immense amount of smoke pollution that is toxic to planet earth.
This has been found to be the second biggest contributor to greenhouse gas in the world.
By purchasing products that contain crude palm oil, you are helping destroy ancient, pristine rainforest, wipe out species like the orangutan, and create a large-scale ecological disaster.
Read more here
So I encourage you to start reading ingredients lists to see if products you are buying contain palm oil
How do I know if a product contains palm oil?
Often it is listed in the ingredients list as palm oil, but it may also be just listed as vegetable oil.
To check if that vegetable oil is palm oil, check the nutrition information panel.
If the saturated fat content is roughly 50% of the total fat content, then it will be palm oil that has been used
For example: Listed in the ingredients list is “vegetable oil”
Total fat 4.9g Saturated fat 3.3g (more than 1/2) – this product contains palm oil
There is also a list of products found in Australia that contain palm oil here
You want to double check ingredients lists as well
Here is a list of other websites with information about palm oil
Which supermarket products contain palm oil? Find out on the Victoria Zoo website
And about orangutans…
