The geography of palm oil

Palm oil is a fruit that is grown in mostly humid and warm countries, like Colombia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and sri lanka. However the reason these countries are all doing is not just the climate but the actual economic situation. they are all developing countries and therefore use it as a source of steady income.

it is on the other hand causing havoc in their biodiversity. Here is a piece quoted from elsewhere: "The palm oil industry is guilty of the most heinous ecological atrocities imaginable, including the systematic genocide of orang-utans"- AMAZON CUSTOMER OF RED PALM OIL.

The fruit itself starts off as a seed


then it turns into a small palm tree with palm leaves and then gets bigger. below is a picture of a palm tree

Uses of palm oil

Food

Palm oil is used in chocolate, spreads, candies, sauces, cooking spray condensed milk among other things. Cadburys, Nutella, Reeses, Skippy, Knorr, Dolmio, Dominos all use palm oil in their food.

Other uses

Cosmetics, soaps, candles and detergent are more uses of palm oil. Palmoiliv- palm-olive:palm.

Palmolive is a very big consumer of Palm oil. they make handsoaps and shampooes.

Fuel

Palm oil is used to make a sustainable biodiesel which is proving to be very popular. Colombia is currently producing a lot of it.

Pros

Red Palm Oil contains high amounts of

Carotenoids

Sterols

Vitamin E

However only natural and cold pressed unrefined red palm oil contains these compounds in high amounts. It just so happens that natural and cold pressed unrefined red palm oil can be pricey.

Alzheimers

Arterial thrombosis

Atherosclerosis

These are all diseases that red palm oil can prevent.  However the sole problem is that palm oil is generally found in many forms that do not contain the required compounds that fight cancer and other harmful diseases.

Red palm oil is generally hydrogenated for the use in making food on a commercial level. it increases the shelf life but makes it toxic for humans. But we are still using it. It causes toxicity of the kidney, lung, liver, and heart.

Conclusion

In my view I think that palm oil has some great benefits, but the palm oil that is consumed vastly does not have the same amount of benefits as unhydrogenated, natural and cold pressed unrefined red palm oil.

Cons

So whenever I hear the word palm oil, I immediately think of huge plantations in India,Thailand and Nigeria. Then I think about the wildlife that is displaced and has nowhere to go they are then either shot by poachers or just end up dying of hunger or nowhere to live. Sometimes people are hired by the companies to "control" the "pests". There have even been reports of poachers paying the companies that produce palm oil in order to be allowed to murder the orang-utans and other wildlife that has been displaced by the deforestation.

Wildlife

So then main concern that many people have is of the orang-utans. I have placed a video below which is graphic, but shows the truth and the sad reality of this ingredient. Orang utans are indigenous to Sumatra. They are a very intelligent social bunch of apes and need only a few things; water, sun, food and trees. As a result of the deforestation, they simply cannot live.

Health

Palm oil is a saturated fat which means it is one of the worst fats out there.

--Disclaimer--

----------Some people may find this following video disturbing----------

Intro

Palm oil is an oil that has been used for thousands of years and has many uses, pros and cons. In this blog I will be talking about all of the aspects of palm oil.


Many people have a bad feeling or have a generally negative connotation when it comes to palm oil. Palm oil has been used as far back as  5,000 years ago. It was one of the most traded things until it was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s. it is nowadays mostly grown in Colombia, Nigeria, Borneo, Thailand and Indonesia. many people have criticised it so much that, food producers must now label specifically what type of vegetable fat or oil that it originates from.

https://www.google.ie/search?q=palm+oil&safe=strict&biw=1280&bih=929&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBysmp-KbLAhXBYQ8KHQRUBD8Q_AUIBigB#imgrc=k1Fhte8gUcBNBM%3A

Palm oil is slowly but surely becoming a growing concern of many consumers. Myself being one of them. I am ALWAYS looking at the labels on all the food and seeing if they have Palm oil. It may seem strange at first how I may seem absurd or demented or fixated on some hype of abandoning Palm oil. it is something which I have carried out a lot of research on.

I will outline all my reasons in my coming blogs as to why I hate the stuff. Here is another picture which I feel shows how the oil is destroying our planet. And the most annoying thing is that most of the foods I and many like contain it in high amounts. One surprising thing is that it is not just in poor quality foods. it is in higher quality foods also. Nutella, Cadbury, Lindt, Ferrero Rocher and Palmolive soap are a few brands which contain it in high amounts. I had always adored Nutella, and when I looked at the ingredients it was mainly composed of sugar cocoa and vegetable oils. Now keep in mind that I had always found it ok that vegetable oils were in it. this was all before the 12th December 2014. the next time I looked at the ingredients I was horrified to see that its main constituent was indeed palm oil. to this day I refuse to eat nutella, even though I love the taste.

So I will be updating my blog weekly so stay tuned!