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Diverse impacts of red palm olein, extra virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil on cardiometabolic risk markers in individuals with central obesity: a randomised trial

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Abstract

Purpose

Dietary fats with an abundance of phytonutrients have garnered public attention beyond fatty acids per se. This study was set to investigate the impact of consuming diets with red palm olein (RPOO), extra virgin coconut oil (EVCO) and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO, as a control) on cardiometabolic risk biomarkers and lipid profile.

Methods

We recruited a total of 156 individuals with central obesity, aged 25–45 years, with waist circumference ≥ 90 cm for men and ≥ 80 cm for women in a parallel single-blind 3-arm randomised controlled trial. The participants consumed isocaloric diets (~ 2400 kcal) enriched with respective test fats (RPOO, EVCO or EVOO) for a 12-week duration.

Results

The mean of the primary outcome plasma high sensitivity C-reactive protein was statistically similar between the three diets after a 12-week intervention. EVOO resulted in significantly lower mean LDL cholesterol compared with RPOO and EVCO, despite similar effects on LDL and HDL cholesterol subfractions. The RPOO diet group showed elevated mean \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\)-carotenes levels compared with EVCO and EVOO diet groups (P < 0.05), corresponding with the rich carotenoid content in RPOO.

Conclusion

The three oils, each of which has unique phytonutrient and fatty acid compositions, manifested statistically similar cardiometabolic effects in individuals with central obesity at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases with distinct circulating antioxidant properties.

Clinical trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05791370).

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Data availability

The data are not publicly available as they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wished to express their sincere appreciation to MPOB research assistants and intern students for their assistance and unwavering support during this study.

Funding

This work was financed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Kim-Tiu Teng and Radhika Loganathan contributed equally to this work and shared the first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nutrition Unit, Division of Product Development and Advisory Services, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, No. 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Kim-Tiu Teng & Radhika Loganathan

  2. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Boon How Chew

  3. Clinical Research Unit, Hospital Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (HSAAS Teaching Hospital), Persiaran Mardi-UPM, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Boon How Chew

  4. Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Tsung Fei Khang

  5. Universiti Malaya Centre for Data Analytics, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Tsung Fei Khang

Authors
  1. Kim-Tiu Teng
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  2. Radhika Loganathan
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  4. Tsung Fei Khang
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Contributions

TKT and RL have contributed equally to this work and shared the first authorship. TKT and RL were involved in project conceptualisation and design and were responsible for the investigation and resources. Data curation and statistical analysis were performed by an independent biostatistician, TFK. Writing and visualisation were performed by TKT and RL. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Radhika Loganathan.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Teng, KT., Loganathan, R., Chew, B.H. et al. Diverse impacts of red palm olein, extra virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil on cardiometabolic risk markers in individuals with central obesity: a randomised trial. Eur J Nutr (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-024-03338-6

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