18/08/ 2005 (Independent Online) - The healthy or not oil debate has takena new turn - local research has turned up a tropical oil that appears tonot only protect against the consequences of a heart attack, but is also anatural source of vitamin A.

Red palm oil started to intrigue University of Stellenbosch researcher DrJacques van Rooyen five years ago when the South African Medical ResearchCouncil used it in a school feeding scheme in KwaZulu-Natal and sawimprovements in the children's vitamin A levels and general health.

In five years of work, Van Rooyen, together with PhD student JohanEsterhuyse and colleague Dr Joss du Toit, found that red palm oil, used inthe industrial baking fat form, had a positive effect in rats, protectingagainst the consequences of heart attacks.

Van Rooyen is set to make his second presentation of his findings to theMalaysian Palm Oil Board's International Palm Oil Congress in Malaysianext month.

It is the only oil which contains tocotrienols

Red palm oil is the only oil which contains tocotrienols (a stronganti-oxidant), with high amounts of vitamin A. This is important for SouthAfrica where vitamin A deficiency is a common characteristic among blackchildren.

In its natural form, 100g of red palm oil has 15 times more vitamin A thanthe equivalent amount of carrots and 300 times more than tomatoes.

Red palm oil, Van Rooyen says, is composed, in an almost 50/50 split, ofsaturated and unsaturated fats. Of the saturated fats, half are palmiticfatty acids which research has shown to have a neutral effect oncholesterol.

Of the unsaturated fats, 40 percent is oleic acid, similar to olive oil.

Even among the saturated, or so-called bad fats, Van Rooyen points outthat the effects of these fatty acids are determined by whether they areat position one, two or three on the triglyceride molecular "backbone".Effectively, the position determines how much is absorbed into the blood -and it is usually fatty acids from position number two that are mostlyabsorbed.

'It is a fatty acid that doesn't get absorbed'

"The palmitic acid found in red palm oil is either position number one orthree on that backbone, which means it is a fatty acid that doesn't getabsorbed, but lends a lot of stability," he says.

Oleic acid is situated in position number two.

Getting a little less scientific, Van Rooyen says they saw a protectiveeffect in their first research project in rats, but their main aim now isto try to elucidate the protective mechanisms involved when this oil isadded to the rats' diet.

There are two different so-called signalling pathways that may be involvedin the protection.

Van Rooyen will present these findings at the Malaysia congress next month- and now they're moving on determining whether adding this oil as afunctional food can help protect against heart attacks.

Obviously humans are a long way down the line of research, but now VanRooyen has won funding for the next two years to do further work on thered palm oil proper, rather than the industrial baking fat version he hasbeen using in his research.

"Now we need to try to unravel the mechanisms of how the palm oil actuallyworks," he says.

Van Rooyen, who says he is using red palm oil liberally in his own homealready, says people need to responsibly consume both saturated andunsaturated fatty acids.

Campaigns against tropical oils like palm oil since the 1980s had turnedpeople off them, considering them to be extremely bad for the health.

"Here we have a totally natural product that is high in vitamin E, withthe strong antioxidant tocotrienol, and the added benefit of vitamin A.

"I believe that natural products with a balanced nutritional compositionshould be the guideline for our daily dietary intake," he says.