Nutritional evaluation of palm oil

ABSTRACT

Six groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets containing 15% of either palm oil, palm olein, hydrogenated fat, frying corn oil, palm oil, or a mixture of corn oil + hydrogenated fat at a ratio of [11]. The physical and chemical properties of oil and fats were examined. Food intake, changes in body weight, food efficiency, lipids of liver and histopathological examination of different organs of rats were investigated. The results obtained showed statistically significant increase in body weight change in rats fed on palm olein whereas a decrease was shown for the group fed frying oil. Lipids profiles of the animals liver indicated that hydrogenated fat induced higher levels of total lipids while cholesterol showed significant increase for the rats fed frying oil. Histopathological examination indicated no abnormalities in any of the organs among the groups