Nutritional evaluation of crude palm oil in rats.

Edible-grade crude palm oil (CPO: from Elaeis guineensis) is one of the richest natural sources of beta-carotene (7500 mumol/L) and is cheaper than other edible oils, making it a promising source of vitamin A in a deficient population. Nutritional studies were conducted on weanling albino rats of the Wistar/NIN strain for 28 and 90 d. Diets contained 10% of either CPO, groundnut oil (GNO), or refined palm-olein oil (RPO) and adequate amounts of all other nutrients. No adverse effects were observed as judged by growth rate, feed-efficiency ratio, protein-efficiency ratio, net protein utilization, digestibility, fat absorption, nitrogen balance, phosphorus and calcium retention, serum enzymes, and blood hematology, which were comparable with control values. Lipid profiles of the animals of the 28-d study indicated that CPO and RPO had higher amounts of cholesterol and triglycerides than did GNO although tissue lipids were comparable. In the 90-d study, however, lipid concentrations were comparable with control values. These results suggest that CPO has adequate nutritional quality compared with GNO and RPO.