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( Palm oil)
Palm oil is an edible plant oil derived from the fruit of the Arecaceae Elaeis oil palm. Previously the second-most widely produced edible oil, after soybean oil, 28 million tonnes were produced worldwide in 2004.[1] It may have now surpassed soybean oil as the most widely produced vegetable oil in the world.[2] It is also an important component of many soaps, washing powders and personal care products, is used to treat wounds, and has controversially found a new use as a feedstock for biofuel. The palm fruit is the source of both palm oil (extracted from palm fruit) and palm kernel oil (extracted from the fruit seeds). Palm oil itself is reddish because it contains a high amount of beta-carotene. It is used as cooking oil, to make margarine and is a component of many processed foods. Boiling it for a few minutes destroys the carotenoids and the oil becomes colourless. Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils relatively high in saturated fats (like coconut oil) and thus semi-solid at room temperature. Palm oil (from the African Oil Palm, Elaeis guineensis) was long recognized in West African countries, and among West African peoples it has long been in widespread use as a cooking oil. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use in Europe, but as the oil was bulky and cheap, palm oil remained rare outside West Africa. In the Asante Confederacy, state-owned slaves built large plantations of oil palm trees, while in the neighbouring Kingdom of Dahomey, King Ghezo passed a law in 1856 forbidding his subjects from cutting down oil palms. Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders, for use as an industrial lubricant for the machines of Britain's Industrial Revolution, as well as forming the basis of soap products, such as Lever Brothers' "Sunlight Soap", and the American Palmolive brand.[citation needed] By c.1870, palm oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, although this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s.[citation needed]
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Palm oil Subcategories
Palm oil Articles
Anti-Aging Agents: a guide to key ingredients in anti-aging skincare by Marie Veronique Nadeau
Anti-Aging Agents
Wrinkles, sags, lines, freckles and “liver spots” are all normal accompaniments of aging--or are they? We hear so much hype about what goes on in the aging process it becomes really difficult to separate fact from fiction. ...
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