Palm oil consumption and lipid profile in Côte d'Ivoire

Palm oil being qualified as an atherogen from a nutritional point of view, we studied the impact of its consumption on the lipid and lipoprotein parameters of healthy young Ivorian subjects living in rural areas. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of analytical type, which involved 120 Ivorian subjects aged 18 to 30 years, of which 65 were regular consumers of palm oil and 55 were periodical consumers of the said oil considered as control subjects. The serum concentrations of the studied parameters were measured by classical enzymatic methods. Serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C and lipoprotein (a) were non-significantly different in both groups of subjects. In addition, 58.46% of the palm oil consumers had hypoLDLemia. The percentage of the study subjects with normal serum concentrations was higher in the parameters studied. From this study, it appears that the consumption of palm oil does not alter the lipid and lipoprotein profile of the consumer subjects, on the contrary, this consumption revealed a decrease in cholesterol levels in these subjects.