inspected a bunch of snack foods at the asian market, apparently the cheap oil of choice there is palm oil instead of canola / sunflower? anyone have strong opinions about how bad palm oil is? (?) not a seed oil but i remember not liking how it tastes in nutella
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I seem to recall conventional ppl mostly hate that one for environmental reasons (???) more than health considerations per se but forgot details, just would want to tease those apart & weigh accordingly
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I think the controversy with palm oil is that farmers are wiping out indigenous trees in the rainforests to plant oil palm trees in their place
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Seed oils are "bad" because they are high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats where avocado/olive oil are monounsaturated. Palm oil is mostly a saturated fat. So it's sort of on another axis. Some people who avoid seed oils also avoid sat fats, some don't.
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All the best snacks at Uwajimaya and daiso have palm oil.
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We have extended family in the native forests who have palm oil plantations.
In return for large profit, it’s harmed a lot of the natural rainforests almost permanently (even to the point of drying up rivers), and serves as a nutrition-less oil/filler for most foods
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Not only itself as a component but a lot of cuisine and dishes associated with it requires palm oil in large quantities - pair that with Asian snacks derived from humid equator countries (which means tons of sugar consumption) and you get an imbalance for most snacks
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Ooh buddy the problems with palm oil is not what kind of oil it is but the production