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Magic Plant That Produces Magic Vegetable Oil
calendar16-06-2025 | linkGPKI | Share This Post:

GAPKI (15/06/2025) - Oil palm is often dubbed as “magic plant” due to its outstanding benefits to human beings. As a gift from Almighty God, oil palm does not only produce vegetable oil, but it has brought a big positive impact to global community.

Among the 17 kinds of oil crops in the world, the oil palm is the most productive one. Based on data from the Oil World in 2020, from a total land area of around 24 million hectares, oil palm plantations can produce palm oil up to 74 million tons. Indonesia and Malaysia are the first and second largest producer of palm oil in the world, with their total contribution reaching around 80 percent of total global production of palm oil.

Although oil palm trees only grow in tropical areas, especially in Southeast Asia, the palm oil products are widely used in various sectors of human life. Through the process of down-streaming and global trading, the palm oil products are utilized in six main sectors known as 6-F: foodfeedphytonutrientfine chemicalfiber, and fuel. It means the benefits of palm oil are not only enjoyed by producing countries, but also by the whole international society (PASPI, 2021).

Palm oil as global source of Food and Energy

Since ancient times, humans have used palm oil as an important source of energy and vegetable oil. Its role as a food ingredient (oleofood) is its oldest contribution along its history. Today, almost all countries in the world use palm oil, both for direct consumption and as an industrial raw material.

PASPI quoted data from USDA (2020) as showing that the consumption of palm oil as food source continues to increase, from an average of 2.2 kg/capita during period of 1991-2000 to 2.8 kg/capita during period of 2001-2011 (Kojima et al., 2016). Meanwhile, based on the FAO-OECD report (2020), the global consumption of vegetable oils in 2019 reached 18 kg/capita, of which around 30 percent contributed by palm oil.

This level of consumption varies in each region, depending on dietary habits and product availability. In producing countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, palm oil is the main source of vegetable oil. In South Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, palm oil is also the main choice for cooking. In China and the United States of America (USA), palm oil is not yet dominant, but its use in the catering sector and the food industry has been continually increasing (Mehta, 2020; Janmohammed, 2020; Santeramo, 2017).

Palm oil rich in nutrition and beneficial to human health

In addition to its advantages as the source of foods and energy, palm oil also contains various active compounds or phytonutrients which have extraordinary benefits for human health. The nutraceutical content in palm oil includes β-carotene, vitamin E (tocopherol and tocotrienol), coenzyme Q10, squalene, phospholipids, and various types of phenolic acids, such as ferulic acid and vanillic acid (Kumar & Krishna, 2014).

Many studies (Nangendran et al., 2000; Sen et al., 2010; Andarwulan, 2020) reported that these compounds have a number of important benefits for human health, including as follows:

  1. An antioxidant that maintains healthy skin.
  2. Antiatherogenic properties, which help lower blood pressure.
  3. Antihypercholesterolemic, which helps improve blood lipid profiles.
  4. Anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory effects.
  5. Capacity to protect the nervous system and improve brain function.
  6. Capacity to improve function of vision.
  7. Ability to strengthen the immune system.

All of those advantages show that palm oil is not just an ordinary food ingredient. Consuming palm oil wisely means getting energy, healthy fats, and essential nutrients to help maintain human health and fitness. (*)

 

Read more at https://gapki.id/en/news/2025/06/14/oil-palm-magic-plant-that-produces-magic-vegetable-oil/