The fruit of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineesis) is the source of antioxidant-rich red palm oil. Red palm oil is a rich source of phytonutrients such as tocotrienols, tocopherols, carotenoids, phytosterols, squalene, and coenzyme Q10, all of which exhibit nutritional properties and oxidative stability. Mutagenic, nutritional, and toxicological studies have shown that red palm oil contains highly bioavailable β-carotene and vitamin A and is reasonably stable to heat without any adverse effects. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the nutritional properties of red palm oil. The possible antiatherogenic, antihemorrhagic, antihypertensive, anticancer, and anti-infective properties of red palm oil are examined. Moreover, evidence supporting the potential effectiveness of red palm oil to overcome vitamin A deficiency in children and pregnant women, to improve ocular complications of vitamin A deficiency, to protect against ischemic heart disease, to promote normal reproduction in males and females, to aid in the management of diabetes, to ameliorate the adverse effects of chemotherapy, and to aid in managing hypobaric conditions is presented.

Tocotrienols induced anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects in association with DNA fragmentation, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage and NF-κB inhibition in the two human breast cancer cell lines.

Palm oil contains a number of phytonutrients. To date, most of the studies using palm phytonutrients have focused on palm vitamin E. The objective of this study was to compare the anti-cancer activities of four major palm phytonutrients, namely tocotrienol-rich fraction, carotenoids, squalene and co-enzyme Q10 using some cell-based assays. Two human breast cancer cell lines, the highly aggressive triple-negative MDA-MB-231 and the estrogen-dependent MCF-7 cells, were treated with these palm phytonutrients to determine their anti-cancer effects. Palm vitamin E exhibited higher ability to induce cell death by apoptosis in both human breast cancer cells compared to the other palm phytonutrients (carotenoids, squalene and co-enzyme Q10), which was absent in normal NIH/3T3 cells. In addition, there was higher cleavage of the poly-adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase (PARP) enzyme in palm vitamin Etreated MDA-MB-231 cells compared to the other phytonutrients. All the tested palm phytonutrients suppressed the expression of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B-cells (NF-kB) protein in the breast cancer cells exposed briefly to tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a). Palm phytonutrients possess varying extent of anti-cancer effects on the human breast cancer cells.

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nutritional values of fried products. Indeed, this reaction triggers the formation of harmful new compounds including polymers, free fatty acids and other oxidative substances 6. Cooking oil is commonly used for daily diet preparation. Carotenoid-rich red palm oil is beneficial as it offers vital antioxidants that enhance the well-being of the general population, and fulfil the daily requirement of fatty acids 7. However, a dietary habit survey involving 200 pregnant Nigerian women showed high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency as a result of high episode of malaria, anaemia, and subclinical infections, i.e. upper respiratory and urinary tract infection, despite 80 of them consumed red palm oil for cooking. It is suspected that the cooking methods by these women involve excessive heating which contributed to low vitamin A viability 8. A study has been conducted to evaluate the thermal stability of various palm products, i.e. palm oil, single-and double fractionated palm oleins, red palm olein and palm-based shortening upon 80 hours of heating at 180 6. This study evaluates thermal and phyto-Abstract: Red palm olein is known to be high in carotenes and vitamin E (tocols) and possess various nutritional benefits. This study evaluates the effect of prolonged heating using three common cooking techniques i.e. deep-fat fryer, microwave oven and conventional oven, on the profiles of carotenes and tocols as well as the physico-chemical changes occurring in red palm olein when compared to conventional palm olein. Physico-chemical changes in all oils were gauged based on their peroxide, p-anisidine and total oxidation values, acidity, and fatty acid composition. Both red palm olein and palm olein were thermally stable based on their lower rate of hydrolytic and oxidative degradations as well as higher tocols retention, which allow the oils to undergo heating up to 3 hours using deep-fat fryer and conventional oven. Nevertheless, red palm olein seemed not suitable for prolonged heating processes considering lower retention of carotenes. Microwave heating also influenced the stability of phytonutrients.

Childhood malnutrition is known as a public health concern globally. The present study aims to assess the anthropometry and blood biochemical status of rural primary school children in Malaysia. A total of 776 children (7-11 years old) from 10 rural primary schools from 5 states were included in this study. Nutritional outcomes were assessed based on gender, age group and school categories among the children (median age: 9 years [P25:8, P75:10]). The overall prevalence of malnutrition was 53.4%. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) was recorded at 20.6% and 39.8% based on retinol and retinol-binding protein (RBP) levels, respectively. Anaemia, iron deficiency (ID), iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) and elevated inflammation were found at 14.9%, 17.9%, 9.1% and 11.5%, respectively. Malnutrition, VAD, anaemia, ID, IDA, and elevated inflammation were more prevalent among Orang Asli (OA) school children compared to Non-Orang Asli (NOA) school children. Higher occurrence of VAD and anaemia were also found among children aged <10 years. Retinol, RBP, alpha-carotene, ferritin, and haemoglobin levels were lower among undernourished children. Besides, overweight/obese children exhibited a higher level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that children from OA schools (AOR:6.1; 95% CI: 4.1-9.0) and iron-deficiency anaemia (AOR:3.6; 95% CI:1.9-6.6) were associated to stunting among this population. The present study revealed that malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and anaemia are prevalent among rural primary school children in Malaysia, especially those from OA schools and younger age children (<10 years). Hence, more appropriate and targeted measures are needed to improve the nutritional status of these children.

IntroductionStorage is one of the substantial factors modulating the shelf life stability and freshness of cooking oils. Oxidation is the main precursor that deteriorates the quality of oils. Edible oil gets oxidised during processing and storage through auto-and photo-oxidations 1 . The rate of oxidation depends on several factors including the availability of oxygen and presence of light and temperature 2 . Oxidation destroys essential fatty acids and produces toxic constituents, whilst influencing sensorial and nutritional attributes 3 . Oils with significant level of unsaturated fatty acids are susceptible to oxidation 4 .Auto-oxidation generally occurs in the presence of oxygen which forms primary oxidative compounds i.e. peroxides and hydroperoxides 2 . In the presence of metals and/or at high temperature, lipid peroxides become readily decomposed to alkoxy radicals which then form secondary oxidation products such as aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters, alcohols, and short-chain hydrocarbons. The time

Introduction It is well-established that processed palm oil is obtained when crude palm oil undergoes refining process i.e. degumming, bleaching and deodorisation at temperature of 270 before fractionation to yield the liquid fraction called palm olein 1. As a result, the carotenes, which yield the red-orange colour of crude palm oil, are degraded whilst golden yellow coloured oil is produced in which only part of the other phytonutrients are retained in the palm olein 2. Realising this limitation, a novel process involving pretreatment, deacidification and deodorisation using molecular distillation was developed, whereby approximately 80 of the carotenes and phytonutrients present in crude palm oil could be retained in red palm olein even after fractionation 2. A recent comprehensive review from our group has reported that red palm olein is effective as source of pro