Demonising palm oil won't improve public health. Better focus on food literacy, balanced diet

The Print

22-05-2025

By positioning palm oil as the primary culprit behind India's growing obesity rate and LDL, or 'bad', cholesterol levels, the article misses a much larger, more nuanced picture that involves food security, farmer welfare, strategic self-sufficiency, and environmental realities. The problem of obesity in India is real and rising. But attributing it largely to palm oil consumption is misguided. India's annual per capita edible oil consumption stands at 19.7 kg, which is well above the ICMR-recommended 12 kg.
However, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav recently stated in Parliament that there is ' no unanimous scientific evidence ' linking palm oil consumption to negative health effects. He also noted that the Indian Council of Medical Research – National Institute of Nutrition recommends the use of a variety of vegetable oils, including palm oil, as relying entirely on a single vegetable oil may not provide the optimal balance of fatty acids.
A recent opinion article in ThePrint , titled Oil is making India obese and import-hungry. Modi wants to change that , goes beyond merely criticising palm oil for increasing obesity in the country. It goes so far as to suggest that the Government of India should exclude this versatile vegetable oil from its National Mission on Edible Oils, citing its widespread use in the unorganised sector, which drives higher consumption and adversely affects public health.
However, this increase isn't unique to palm oil. It reflects a larger shift in dietary habits driven by urbanisation, sedentary lifestyles, and the growing intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). According to a 2023 WHO report, India's UPF market surged from $900 million in 2006 to nearly $38 billion in 2019. These foods, rich in refined sugars, sodium, and preservatives, pose far greater health risks than any single cooking medium.
Beyond diets
It is true that palm oil contains saturated fats, but not all saturated fats are created equal. When consumed as part of a balanced diet, palm oil is no more harmful than other edible oils. It contains nearly equal proportions of saturated and unsaturated fats and is rich in antioxidants like vitamin E. Its health impact depends more on the quantity and context of consumption than on its mere presence in the kitchen.
However, the conversation must go beyond kitchens and diets. India imports over 15 million tonnes of edible oil annually, including Rs 40,000 crore worth of palm oil, which accounts for about 56 per cent of the total imports. This heavy reliance on imports strains our foreign exchange reserves and exposes us to global price volatility and supply chain disruptions. The National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), backed by Rs 11,040 crore in funding, is a strategic effort to cut edible oils import dependency, boost domestic production, and enhance farmer incomes.
This mission is already bearing fruit. In Telangana, farmers have seen up to a 50 per cent rise in prices, earning Rs 21,000 for a tonne of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) produce. States like Karnataka, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh have also embraced oil palm cultivation. Importantly, in India, forest lands are not being recommended and used for oil palm cultivation, contrary to common misconceptions. Only the cultivable land of the individual farmer is under oil palm cultivation mainly as replacement of rice cultivation and that too in agro-ecologically suitable regions only. Oil palm is a rapidly expanding profitable crop in northeastern states under NMEO-OP, contrary to common misconceptions.
Also read: Palm oil cultivation is key for Atmanirbhar Bharat. It empowers farmers too
Embracing palm oil
From an environmental standpoint, palm oil is the world's most land-efficient oil crop, yielding 4-5 tonnes of oil per hectare compared to just 0.4-0.5 tonnes for soybean. According to Our World in Data, palm oil makes up 36 per cent of the world's vegetable oil production using only 9 per cent of the land devoted to oil crops. Replacing it with alternatives like soybean, rapeseed, or sunflower would demand significantly more land, potentially exacerbating deforestation. Oil palm also requires less water than resource-intensive crops like sugarcane or rice, a critical factor for water-stressed regions.
NMEO-OP also incorporates sustainability safeguards. Special provision for intercropping of annual crops in oil palm plantation has been made for the initial four years of non-bearing period of oil palm. Such agri-horticultural systems conserve land resources and are better adapted to climate change. Palm plantation provides farmer buy-back guarantees, and offers viability gap funding to protect growers from price fluctuations. The mission further encourages bilateral cooperation with countries like Malaysia in the field of palm oil, especially in research and development, seed supply, and partnership management.
Atmanirbhar Bharat is more than just a slogan; it is a strategic push for independence in critical sectors, including food and edible oils. Palm oil isn't just another cooking medium; it's a vital component of India's pursuit of edible oil security. Public health must be addressed through stronger food literacy, better regulation of UPFs, and promotion of balanced diets, not by demonising a crop that sustains thousands of farmers and reduces our import bill by billions.
Blaming palm oil unfairly may make for a dramatic headline, but India's food strategy must rise above fear-driven narratives. What the country needs is not a retreat from palm oil, but a smart, sustainable, and informed embrace of it.
The author is former Additional Commissioner (Oilseeds), Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)