Palm Oil

Palm oil is a main crop, not a leftover. The oil palm gives up to 10 times more oil per unit of land than other oilseed crops, which is why it became the world's most important vegetable oil.^1,3,4,5

1. 01 // Source Fresh fruit bunches The fruit's fleshy outer layer is about 50% oil when ripe. The kernel inside goes to a separate oil.
2. 02 // Process Sterilized Hot water or steam destroys the enzymes that split the oil. In bruised fruit, free fatty acids can reach 60% within an hour.
3. 03 // Process Digested and pressed Beaters break open the oil cells, then screw presses squeeze out 75 to 80% of the oil.
4. 04 // Process Refined Crude red oil is refined at about 200°C. All the carotenes are lost here, and contaminants called glycidyl esters form.
5. 05 // Output Refined palm oil A pale, bland fat, about half saturated, delivered to food plants in bulk.

1. 01

   Calories dogs absorb

   Fat carries more than twice the energy of protein or starch. In an 11-dog trial, the dogs digested 96.6% of the added palm oil.²

2. 02

   Cheap oil at scale

   The oil palm yields up to 10 times more oil per unit of land than other oilseeds. That makes it the world's leading vegetable oil, cheap and always available.^1,7

3. 03

   A stable fat

   About half its fatty acids are saturated and only about 10% are polyunsaturated, the type that turns rancid fastest. That makes it a more stable fat than most seed oils.¹

How much Brands do not publish how much they use. One controlled dog trial added 10% palm oil to a dry food.²

1. Critics say

   Palm oil drives rainforest and wildlife loss

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   IUCN counts 193 threatened species harmed by palm oil expansion. The report adds that replacement oils need up to 9 times as much land, so dropping palm oil moves the damage elsewhere instead of stopping it.⁷

2. Brands say

   A highly digestible fat for dogs

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   In a Latin square trial with 11 dogs, the dogs digested 96.6% of palm oil added at 10% of a dry food. That is one small study. Most cooking fats digest well in dogs, so this is no special edge.²

3. Brands say

   Palm oil gives dogs antioxidants and vitamin E

   Outruns the evidence

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   Crude red oil holds 500 to 700 mg/kg carotenoids, and standard refining destroys all of them. In 8 beagles, antioxidant levels rose only after a large single dose of purified palm tocotrienols, not after any food.^1,5,6

4. Critics say

   Refined palm oil carries cancer-causing contaminants

   Outruns the evidence

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   EFSA found the highest levels of glycidyl esters in palm fats and called glycidol genotoxic and carcinogenic. Its risk work covers people, levels halved from 2010 to 2015, and nobody has measured a dog dose.⁴

5. Brands say

   Palm fruit oil is rich in omega-3s

   Outruns the evidence

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   A supplement maker tells owners this, but alpha-linolenic acid makes up 0.4% of palm oil's fatty acids. Fish oil or flaxseed supplies omega-3. Palm oil barely does.^1,8