MALAYSIA’S very own trade war is in fighting the Western anti-palm oil campaign, and we fight them abroad and at home. At the home front, the Love MY Palm Oil campaign attempts to create awareness and educate the people on the health benefits of palm oil that is rich in beta-carotene and good quality vitamin E, but the effort is not enough. Victory at home can only be determined when the imported canola, soya and corn oils that are currently gaining preference status be relegated and driven from the shelves of retail outlets.

So long as the populace perceives the high laden saturated fat in palm oil as detrimental to health, efforts at the home front will be futile. The problem lies with lack of effective communication of the latest scientific discoveries and knowledge and translating them into simple language that lay people can understand. This is where the role of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is found wanting.

Scientific studies pertaining to health embody the language of evidence-based medicine (EBM). Since 1990 when the term was coined by Gordon Guyatt, and further defined by David Sackett in 1996, EBM has since evolved into evidence-based practice and healthcare. It is an excellent methodology in health and clinical research to help detect and reduce bias. EBM helps to inform what type of scientific reports or research carries more weight.

In EBM, the highest and most valuable category of evidence derives from systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Observational studies from case reports and cohort studies occupy much lower rungs in the evidence-based hierarchy.  

The common perception that saturated fat is associated with cholesterol, clogs the arteries and causes heart attack and stroke is incorrect, and contradicts the latest facts and knowledge gained from EBM. By avoiding the issue of saturated fat and merely promoting the benefits of vitamins A and E, MPOB appears warped in decades-old thinking.

Since the 1950s, it was observed that a general high-fat diet was associated with heart disease. In the 1960s, through observations of American and European diets, the blame for heart disease went specifically to saturated fat because the Europeans consumed more vegetable fat while Americans consumed more animal fat and had higher prevalence of heart disease. In the 1970s, again from observational studies, heart disease was linked to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. How LDL became involved with heart disease was not understood until the receptor site of LDL was discovered in the early 1980s and therefore the mechanism explained. From then onwards, LDL has been labelled as “bad” cholesterol, and its physiological role misunderstood.

Mainstream scientific research and the quest for further enquiry into the cause of coronary heart disease did not progress much from the 1990s. It must be pointed out that the knowledge obtained through the preceding four decades was all based on observational studies. Pilot experimental studies to test hypothesis were only conducted in late 1990s, and it was not until the first decade of the 21st century that large-scale clinical trials were conducted.  

Campaigners of the Western edible oil industry capitalised on the diet-saturated fat hypothesis to demonise palm oil for three decades. Dietary guidelines were based on the hypothesis that saturated fats and a high cholesterol diet were bad for health, and taken root in a whole generation causing them to fear anything cholesterol and saturated fat.  

More recently, scientific studies based on systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised control trials, considered the gold standard in EBM, reported conflicting findings as to what was perceived concerning the diet-lipid-cholesterol hypothesis. Three studies – Choudhry et al (2014), Schwab et al (2014), and Hooper et al (2015) –concluded that reducing saturated fat has no effect on the risk of heart disease or death. However, replacing saturated fat with refined carbohydrate increased the risk of heart disease. This corroborated with the Rath-Pauling hypothesis (1992) that the cause of heart disease was due to a chronic deficiency of vitamin C where the collagen matrix of the artery walls weaken to allow the sticky apo-protein (produced in our own liver) to deposit as repair factor. High sugar consumption can weaken the collagen matrix. Consuming saturated fat has nothing to do with sclerotic blood vessel.

The study of Harcombe et al (2015) also concluded that the dietary fat guideline for lowering saturated fat introduced in the 1980s was not supported by randomised controlled trials. This and the three studies mentioned above are strong evidence and supersede the value of all previous observational studies. As such, MPOB should take heed and re-strategise in its approach in promoting the Love MY Palm Oil campaign.

Communicating the science accurately and effectively presents an opportunity not only to win the war against Western anti-palm oil campaigners, but also to mobilise and unite the Malaysian people towards patriotism and nationalism. – June 13, 2019.

* Captain Dr Wong Ang Peng is a researcher with an interest in economics, politics, and health issues. He has a burning desire to do anything within his means to promote national harmony. Captain Wong is also a member of the National Patriots Association.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.