June 2010 - The Journal of the American College of Nutrition published a journal supplement on “Dietary Palm Oil in Human Nutrition” which included a series of invited reviews about the nutritional impact of palm oil on various aspects of human health as well as the global economics and politics of palm oil production.
Dr. Rice led an invited review about red palm oil’s role in preventing vitamin A deficiency, one of the world’s most widespread micronutrient deficiencies and a leading preventable cause of childhood blindness and mortality. The authors reviewed evidence from a series of human intervention studies designed to measure the efficacy of red palm oil-based interventions. Overall, the results suggest that the provitamin A carotenoids in red palm oil are highly efficacious in improving the vitamin A status of populations at risk of vitamin A deficiency. The authors highlighted the need for additional operational research projects, effectiveness trials, and cost-benefit analyses to help expand the use of red palm oil in areas where it is likely to be well-accepted but remains underutilized as a dietary source of provitamin A.
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