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.
