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Focus on healthy qualities of palm oil

SHARJAH - The anti-oxidant quality of palm oil and its high resistance to heat when cooking was highlighted during a recent lecture for public health inspectors at Sharjah Municipality.

In the lecture delivered by Dr Abdel Wahab Al Khadar, Director of the Central Laboratory at the municipality, Dr Khadar spoke on the need to choose cooking oils carefully and to take into consideration each oil's heat resistance and whether oils contain anti-oxidant components, which would give cooking oil a longer shelf life.

He said that tests of the taste showed marked consumer preferance for palm oil which has a wide variety of applications. He said that palm oil also contains Vitamin A and B and Beta Carotene as well as Chlorophyll, all of which have anti-oxidant qualities.

Dr Khadar said that palm oil is used for frying and cooking and is superior to soya oil, lin seed oil, sesame seed oil, peanut oil and sunflower oil.

He said that an oil's fatty and amino-acid content determines shelf life and how many times the oil can be reused, especially in frying Falafel. He said that these components provide an oil the ability to resist high heat especially if it does not contain cholesterol, making palm oil ideal.

Dr Khadar said that the type of container an oil is cooked in also determines the quality of the oil and its resistance to oxidation, adding that copper containers oxidise very quickly which ultimately affects the oil as well.

He said that the composition of palm oil allows it to withstand oxidation for 10 hours of continuous frying, unlike other oils which oxidise very quickly. Dr Khadar said that bad quality oils contain polymers, which is a substance that deposits on the walls of the veins and arteries and affects the heart.