Availability of Vegetable Edible Oils and Potential Health Implications in Kenya

Abstract

Vegetable edible oil is an indispensable nutritional source for humans especially for fatty acids and vitamin E and is commonly used in cooking. The sources of vegetable edible oils are varied and include the seeds, pulps, fruits, and plumules of various plants. Palm, soybean, sunflower and rapeseed (canola) oils top the oils traded globally. In this article, review of literature on the availability of vegetable edible oils and its potential human health implications in Kenya was explored. Kenya is a net importer of edible oils mainly in the form of palm oil. Consequently, the main edible oils refiners in Kenya majorly produce palm oil/olein edible derivatives. This dominancy of palm oil/olein, oil mainly rich in saturated fatty acids in the Kenyan market, raises health concerns as palm oil has been postulated to raise low density lipoprotein cholesterol that gives rise to hypercholesterolemia in comparison to vegetable edible oils with lower saturated but higher unsaturated fatty acids that are cardioprotective such as in corn and sunflower oils. Inarguably, the increasing availability of edible oils and fats is driving their higher consumption, along with deep-fried foods that are rich in trans fats. Therefore, it is an opportune time for a more holistic approach to dietary recommendations and safety considerations of edible oils and plausible movement from the current palm oil-dominated market towards the incorporation of a greater variety of edible oils and/or as palm oil blends with pure vegetable edibles oils as the importance of fatty acid intake is associated with a number of non-communicable diseases which are increasingly becoming a threat in Kenya.