GEORGE TOWN: Palm oil is set to shed its negative image as more scientific researches on the commodity revealed its potential as a cure for many illnesses.
Plantation, Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said research had revealed that the commodity provided a natural remedy to many ailments including fatty liver and stroke.
He said such positive developments could offset misconceptions about palm oil.
"While the government continues to work on how the industry can increase its productivity in a more sustainable manner without using more land, such new researches will open doors to new possibilities and markets.
"Although the industry has been accused of being environmentally unfriendly, it is also a source of renewable energy such as biogas and biomass."
He was speaking after a presentation by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) researchers Dr Enrico Magosso and Professor Ibrahim Lutfi Shuaib on the use of palm tocotrienols (palm Vitamin E) in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and preventing stroke.
Palm oil is to date the richest source of tocotrienol, the superior form of Vitamin E that is high in antioxidants.
Tocotrienols obtained the Self-Affirmed GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) status in September 2007 from the US Food and Drug Administration.
Apart from being used in food like margarine, salad dressing, mayonnaise and potato chips, tocotrienol has also been proven to contain anti-cancer properties as well as neuro and vascular protective properties.
Dr Magosso, an Italian researcher from USM's School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, said after a one-year clinical trial on 64 volunteers suffering from NAFLD, 20 out of 30 patients treated with tocotrienol showed improvements with 15 being cured.
He said although more studies must be conducted to convince people that tocotrienol works, the discovery had presented an answer to NAFLD, a silent disease that affects 90 per cent of diabetic and obese people of all ages and 60 per cent of Malaysians with high-cholesterol.
"This natural remedy has proven effective in treating NAFLD and has every potential to be the treatment of choice. The market opportunity of 500 million people worldwide is vast for Malaysia, which is the world's second largest palm oil producer."
Tocotrienol has also proven to work in preventing stroke, the nation's third largest cause of death after heart diseases and cancer.
Ibrahim said in a two-year study on 10 people with white matter lesion, a neuronal damage in the brain that is related to stroke, five out of seven subjects who were treated with tocotrienol showed improvements.
"Only one subject out of the remaining three, who received placebo treatments, showed improvements while the condition of the other two deteriorated.
"We hope tocotrienol, when used widely in the field of medicine, will have a positive impact in neuro treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases," said Ibrahim, who is from USM's School of Advanced Medical and Dental Institute.
One of the most important phytonutrients in edible oils is Vitamin E. Vitamin E is the generic name for the family of tocopherols and tocotrienols. In nature, eight compounds have been found to possess vitamin E activity.
