Effects of dietary palm olein on the cardiovascular risk factors in healthy young adults

Background: Dietary saturated fatty acids are always being hotly debated. Palm olein rich in saturated fatty acids (45.98%) is often considered as being atherogenic nutritionally. There is a lack of information on effects of dietary oil by partially replacing with palm olein on human health. Methods: A randomized controlled trial with 88 participants has been conducted to elucidate the effect of palm olein on cardiovascular risk factors. Results: By comparing the soybean oil group (saturated fatty acids amounted to 23.31%) with the cocoa butter group (saturated fatty acids amounted to 93.76%), no significant difference was found (p > 0.05) in physiological parameters, serum oxidative stress levels, inflammatory factor, glucose metabolism, and lipid profiles of subjects, which are all cardiovascular risk factors. Although results showed that intervention time can influence the cardiovascular risk factors significantly (p < 0.05), there is no relationship between intervention time and dietary oil type. Conclusion: Therefore, partial replacement of dietary oil by palm olein may not affect cardiovascular risk factors in healthy young adults. There are differences between our research and previous researches, which may be due to the different amount of palm olien in diet. Our research will provide a solid foundation for the application of palm olein in human diets and in the food industry