How does palm oil differ from other oils?
Palm oil, unlike other oils, is composed of 44% palmitic acid. Palmitic acid is a C16 saturated fatty acid, and is now found to be less hypercholesterolemic than saturated fatty acids in the range of C12 to C14. In addition, palm oil is much less saturated than other oils, such as coconut and palm kernel oil. Because palm oil contains roughly equal amounts of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids it can be considered to be a balanced fat.
