Palm oil is everywhere yet rarely understood. It slips quietly into our kitchens, our packaged foods, even our infant nutrition formulas. For some, it has become shorthand for unhealthy diets; for others, it is simply the most affordable cooking oil on the market. However, neither caricature does justice to its real significance. Palm oil is not just another edible oil. It sits at the intersection of nutrition, health equity, and sustainability.
Addressing malnutrition in India while ensuring food remains affordable means palm oil cannot be overlooked. It deserves to be examined honestly - its risks acknowledged, but its contributions and possibilities understood with equal seriousness. Used wisely, palm oil can be part of the solution to some of India’s most pressing public health and development challenges.
More Than Its Reputation
Few oils do more than add flavor and calories. Palm oil is one of them. Red palm oil is one of the richest natural sources of beta-carotene - a precursor to vitamin A. In a country where vitamin A deficiency remains a silent but significant public health issue, recent studies confirm its widespread presence; especially among adolescents. To address this, fortified oils in government food programs are formulated to deliver 25–30% of the daily recommended intake of vitamin A and D, with palm oil often serving as the base oil.
Even less known is palm oil’s role as one of the few natural sources of tocotrienols - a unique form of vitamin E with antioxidant and neuroprotective potential. Research has shown promising links between tocotrienol intake and reduced risks of stroke and certain cancers. While science is still evolving, it is clear that palm oil’s nutritional profile is more complex and more useful than it is usually given credit for.
A Kitchen Reality
While public debates about oils tend to be dominated by expert panels and urban consumers, most food decisions in India happen at the household level. And in Indian kitchens, frying isn’t occasional; it’s habitual. Palm oil’s high oxidative stability at high temperatures makes it well-suited to this context. Unlike oils that break down and form harmful compounds when overheated, palm oil holds up to repeated use.
But palm oil isn’t only about what happens on the stove. It also plays an irreplaceable role in infant nutrition. Palm oil fractions are used in many milk formulas to mimic the fat structure of human breast milk. They help deliver palmitic acid in a form that supports energy needs and calcium absorption in infants. Without this component, achieving the required nutritional profile in formula feeding would be significantly more difficult.
Palm Oil: Equity, Responsibility, and Beyond Food
Palm oil is often dismissed as the “lesser” option, chosen only because it is affordable. Yet this affordability is exactly what gives it significance. Premium oils like olive or avocado will never be able to feed India at scale. In contrast, palm oil is versatile, highly traded, and often the only edible oil households have access to. What makes it not a weakness, but a potential: enrichment with micronutrients and consumed in conjunction with a diversified diet, palm oil is a nutrition delivery system that reaches the masses, not just the elite.
But affordability must go hand in hand with responsibility. As one of the world’s largest importers with imports worth around USD 8.7 billion, India has a stake in how palm oil is produced. Supporting certified and ethical sourcing through frameworks like Indonesia’s ISPO and industry-wide NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) commitments is what turns palm oil from a commodity into a force for good. It serves as a long-term investment in ensuring edible oil supplies that are cost-effective, sustainable, and socially responsible.
Palm oil’s value also extends beyond food. From palm-based biodiesel that strengthens energy security, to bioplastics and oleochemicals that power everyday products and offer alternatives to fossil-fuel dependency, its role in a bio-based economy is expanding. These applications diversify farmer incomes, build resilience, and create pathways for industrial innovation and green growth.
Case for Balance
Palm oil has become an easy target, perhaps because it is everywhere. But it deserves better than a binary verdict. The real question is not whether we should use palm oil, but how we should use it. In moderation, in combination with other oils, fortified where it makes sense, and sourced through responsible channels, palm oil can play a positive role in India’s public health strategy.
Its nutritional contributions are real. Its economic reach is wide. Its potential in clean energy and sustainable industry is just beginning to unfold. Few other oils combine nutrition, affordability, and industrial potential at this scale. Palm oil is not a dilemma to be debated but a resource to be managed - and its outcome depends on our choices.
