4 ms·

Interesting article. One thing to note is that this study seemed to (correct me if I'm wrong) focus on palmitic acid, which can be found primarily in palm oil,

Interesting article. One thing to note is that this study seemed to (correct me if I'm wrong) focus on palmitic acid, which can be found primarily in palm oil, but can also be found in meat, cheese, and butter, to name a few other sources.

laluser 5y ago
Palm oil seems to be in everything.
- radicaldreamer 5y ago
  It's a cheap oil in Asia due to a bunch of countries trying to develop their agriculture by planting palm (Indonesia etc.) Makes me think twice about having yan yan snacks and pocky's.
  - gambiting 5y ago
    The reason why palm oil is so widespread nowadays is because about 30 years ago it was widely promoted as THE best oil to grow - it has much higher yield than many other oils, and was seen as a "green" alternative since comparatively it takes less land than say, peanut oil. The problem is that yes, it takes less land, but the land that it can be suitably grown on is very important for other things.
    - Nition 5y ago
      To be fair, so is much of our other land, but we have the excuse that we already destroyed it many years ago.
  - obiwan14 5y ago
    And in parts of West Africa, palm oil is the principal oil used in many recipes. Before Western vegetable oils were introduced to that part of the world, palm oil was the number one oil used in cooking, followed by groundnut (peanut) oil. A place like that would be the ideal place to study the effects of palm oil.
moffkalast 5y ago
Well that's the most horrifying sentence I've read in the past few months.
- QuercusMax 5y ago
  Why is it horrifying? That a naturally occurring long-chain fatty acid is found in multiple natural sources? The parent comment is NOT indicating that palm oil is in these things.
  - moffkalast 5y ago
    Well the article was about palm acid, not palm oil.
obiwan14 5y ago
Starting from about 6 years ago, Palm Oil began showing up in practically everything, even those foods you wouldn't expect to find it. Check the ingredient list in that jar of peanut or almond butter. I make a point of buying peanut or almond butter that has only one ingredient.
vmception 5y ago
Everything at this market contains substances known to the State of California to cause cancer
QuercusMax 5y ago
To clarify - you're not saying that meat, cheese, and butter include palm oil, but rather just one particular naturally-occurring chemical component of palm oil which occurs naturally in many sources. Palmitic acid is just a long-chain fat molecule.
- Vetch 5y ago
  The study is primarily about palmitic acid, claiming that it promotes a prometastatic memory via Schwann cells. Palmitic acid is found in many foods, oils, lotions and occurs naturally in the body. That fact and also the artificial environment required to get the mouth and skin cancer cells grafted into the fragile mice makes it difficult to form any meaningful conclusions regarding diet. What is interesting about the study is it adds to a growing body of work on how tumors hijack nerve pathways to promote metastasis. The claim of this work is that the presence of palmitic acid potentiates a robust cancer partly by stable epigenetic changes in the tumors, recruiting a type of glia and promoting a regenerative environment via the neural network which forms about the tumor cells, even after changes in the availability of the fatty acid.
phonypc 5y ago
There's some amount of palmitic acid in pretty much every dietary fat. Animal sources tend to be higher than seed oils, but e.g. olive oil, that many people like to tout as the healthiest, is something like 10-20% palmitic acid. It's also the most abundant fatty acid in you, even if you don't eat any. There's also a skeleton inside you right now! Spooky.
r00fus 5y ago
It's the most common saturated fatty acid. So this isn't just about palm oil, this is about saturated fats causing cancer.
- l30n4da5 5y ago
  more reason to limit saturated fat intake. i say that as i consume primarily meat and cheese on a daily basis.

laluser 5y ago

Palm oil seems to be in everything.

radicaldreamer 5y ago
It's a cheap oil in Asia due to a bunch of countries trying to develop their agriculture by planting palm (Indonesia etc.) Makes me think twice about having yan yan snacks and pocky's.
- gambiting 5y ago
  The reason why palm oil is so widespread nowadays is because about 30 years ago it was widely promoted as THE best oil to grow - it has much higher yield than many other oils, and was seen as a "green" alternative since comparatively it takes less land than say, peanut oil. The problem is that yes, it takes less land, but the land that it can be suitably grown on is very important for other things.
  - Nition 5y ago
    To be fair, so is much of our other land, but we have the excuse that we already destroyed it many years ago.
- obiwan14 5y ago
  And in parts of West Africa, palm oil is the principal oil used in many recipes. Before Western vegetable oils were introduced to that part of the world, palm oil was the number one oil used in cooking, followed by groundnut (peanut) oil. A place like that would be the ideal place to study the effects of palm oil.

moffkalast 5y ago

Well that's the most horrifying sentence I've read in the past few months.

QuercusMax 5y ago
Why is it horrifying? That a naturally occurring long-chain fatty acid is found in multiple natural sources? The parent comment is NOT indicating that palm oil is in these things.
- moffkalast 5y ago
  Well the article was about palm acid, not palm oil.

obiwan14 5y ago

Starting from about 6 years ago, Palm Oil began showing up in practically everything, even those foods you wouldn't expect to find it. Check the ingredient list in that jar of peanut or almond butter. I make a point of buying peanut or almond butter that has only one ingredient.

vmception 5y ago

Everything at this market contains substances known to the State of California to cause cancer

QuercusMax 5y ago

To clarify - you're not saying that meat, cheese, and butter include palm oil, but rather just one particular naturally-occurring chemical component of palm oil which occurs naturally in many sources. Palmitic acid is just a long-chain fat molecule.

Vetch 5y ago
The study is primarily about palmitic acid, claiming that it promotes a prometastatic memory via Schwann cells. Palmitic acid is found in many foods, oils, lotions and occurs naturally in the body. That fact and also the artificial environment required to get the mouth and skin cancer cells grafted into the fragile mice makes it difficult to form any meaningful conclusions regarding diet. What is interesting about the study is it adds to a growing body of work on how tumors hijack nerve pathways to promote metastasis. The claim of this work is that the presence of palmitic acid potentiates a robust cancer partly by stable epigenetic changes in the tumors, recruiting a type of glia and promoting a regenerative environment via the neural network which forms about the tumor cells, even after changes in the availability of the fatty acid.

phonypc 5y ago

There's some amount of palmitic acid in pretty much every dietary fat. Animal sources tend to be higher than seed oils, but e.g. olive oil, that many people like to tout as the healthiest, is something like 10-20% palmitic acid. It's also the most abundant fatty acid in you, even if you don't eat any. There's also a skeleton inside you right now! Spooky.

r00fus 5y ago

It's the most common saturated fatty acid. So this isn't just about palm oil, this is about saturated fats causing cancer.

l30n4da5 5y ago
more reason to limit saturated fat intake. i say that as i consume primarily meat and cheese on a daily basis.