Health Effects of Various Edible Vegetable Oils: Insights from an Umbrella Review

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The main objective behind this umbrella review was to extract and synthesise evidence from the existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses to assess the health outcomes along with the consumption of various vegetable oils in adults. The review also aimed to clarify conflicting findings and provide a comprehensive overview as a reference for future research and dietary guidelines development.

The review addresses the lack of comprehensive comparisons across various vegetable oils, including palm oil. It also aimed to evaluate the effects of different oil fractions and oil processing methods on health outcomes. These were the areas that previous studies often overlooked or treated inconsistently (by grouping some of the oils with one common name without considering the presence of their micro-components and different fatty acid composition, where the oil can be further fractionated into palm olein (liquid fraction of palm oil).

The industry and public health bodies are recommended to distinguish between different types of oils, particularly between virgin and refined oils, as well as oil fractions such as palm oil versus palm olein, before recommending consumption levels. Grouping virgin and refined olive oil simply as 'olive oil' is not appropriate because their health effects do not overlap due to variations in antioxidant content.

Overall, vegetable oils offer various health benefits, particularly in improving lipid profiles by lowering the “bad” LDL cholesterol (e.g., canola oil, rice bran oil) or increasing the “good” HDL cholesterol (e.g., peanut oil, olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil). Future research should focus on long-term studies to better inform dietary recommendations in shaping future nutritional policies.

Dive deeper into the study on health effects of various edible oils including palm oil at www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/.

Reference: Voon PT, Ng CM, Ng YT, et al. Health Effects of Various Edible Vegetable Oils: An Umbrella Review. Adv Nutr. 2024;15(9):100276.