Abstract
Background/objectives
The consumption of antioxidant-rich cooking oil such as red palm olein may be cardioprotective from the perspective of subclinical inflammation and endothelial function.
Subjects/methods
Using a crossover design, we conducted a randomised controlled trial in 53 free-living high-risk abdominally overweight subjects, comparing the effects of incorporating red palm olein (with palm olein as control) in a supervised isocaloric 2100 kcal diet of 30% en fat, two-thirds (45 g/day) of which were derived from the test oil for a period of 6 weeks each.
Results
We did not observe a significant change in interleukin-6 (IL-6), in parallel with other pro-inflammatory (tumour necrosis factor-β, interleukin-1β, IL-1β, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, hsCRP) and endothelial function (soluble intercellular adhesion molecules, sICAM, soluble intravascular adhesion molecules, sVCAM) parameters. Interestingly, we observed a significant reduction in oxidised LDL levels (P < 0.0386) while on the red palm olein diet, together with the increase in plasma alpha tocopherol (P < 0.0002), alpha carotene (P < 0.0001) and beta carotene (P < 0.0001) concentrations compared with palm olein diet.
Conclusion
Red palm olein did not improve subclinical inflammation and endothelial function despite profound increase in antioxidant levels. The positive improvement in oxidised LDL merits further attention in this group of subjects at risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Director-General of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) for providing the research grants to carry out this study (PD164/12). Sincere acknowledgement to research assistants (Fatmawati Othman, Noraqmar Shafie, Ong Thean Huat; Nutrition Unit, MPOB), technical support (Fu Ju Yen and Puvaneswari Meganathan; Nutrition Unit, MPOB) and physician (Quek Yeow Ling, National University of Malaysia Hospital).
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Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02263183
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Loganathan, R., Vethakkan, S.R., Radhakrishnan, A.K. et al. Red palm olein supplementation on cytokines, endothelial function and lipid profile in centrally overweight individuals: a randomised controlled trial. Eur J Clin Nutr 73, 609–616 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0236-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0236-5
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