Comparison of palm, palmstearin, palmolein, and partially hydrogenated soybean oils: effects on serum lipids and fecal fatty acid excretions of adult humans

We studied the effects of the different forms of saturated (palm, palmolein, palmstearin) and polyunsaturated (partially hydrogenated soybean oil) oil diets on serum lipids and fecal fatty acid excretions of humans. Each oil was the dominant fat in diets (20% of total dietary fat) consumed by 11 normolipidemic, live-in individuals. Test diets were assigned by randomization. All four diets had similar influence on TC, LDL-C, HDL-C and phospholipid (PL), with significant VLDL-C changes observed for palmstearin when compared with partially hydrogenated soybean oil. The fecal fat excretion was higher (2.8 g/d) with palm (P) and palmstearin (PS) and lower (2.25 g/d) with palmolein (PO) and hydrogenated soybean (HSO) diets. However, excretion of palmitic acid did not change significantly with any of the palm oil diets. More palmitic acid (C16 : 0) was excreted when PS diet was fed compared to the feeding of HSO diet. The changes between the two diets reached statistical significance (P < 0.05). We concluded that there were no significant differences in serum lipid concentrations and in fecal fatty acid excretions due to alterations in dietary fats.