Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Palm kernel oil is a thick fat pressed from the seed inside the fruit of the oil palm. The tree is called abe in Twi. In West Africa the oil is used as a cooking fat, a skin and hair rub, and a folk remedy.
It is not the same thing as red palm oil. Red palm oil comes from the orange flesh of the fruit. Palm kernel oil comes from the hard nut, and it is pale, or near black when the kernels are roasted first.
Evidence verdict: there is almost no human proof that it treats any illness. Long use in a tradition is not proof that a thing works, and it is not proof that a thing is safe.
One effect is well shown in people, and it is not a benefit. Palm kernel oil is very high in saturated fat. Diets high in this kind of fat raise LDL, the "bad" cholesterol.
Most of the claims about this oil come from lab work, not from people. Treat them as leads, not as proof.
On skin, any oil forms a thin film that slows water loss. Small studies of plant oils show softer, better hydrated skin for a few hours. Palm kernel oil itself has barely been tested this way.
About half of its fat is lauric acid. In test tubes, lauric acid slows the growth of some bacteria and yeasts. Whether that happens on living skin is not established.
For hair, lab work on coconut oil (also lauric-rich) shows the fat can enter the hair shaft and cut protein loss. Palm kernel oil has a similar fat make-up. The same effect has not been shown for it in people.
The clearest human effect is on blood fats. Feeding trials show that lauric and myristic acid raise LDL cholesterol. They raise HDL (the "good" cholesterol) too, but heart bodies still advise limiting these fats.
You will meet this oil in three settings: the kitchen, the bathroom shelf, and the food label.
- Refined palm kernel oil: pale, almost odourless, sold as a cooking and baking fat.
- Traditional black kernel oil: made by roasting and pressing the kernels, known as adwe ngo in Ghana and ude aki in Nigeria.
- African black soap and other soaps: the oil is a common base.
- Hair pomades, creams and lotions: used on its own or blended with shea butter.
- Processed foods: used in coatings, fillings, creamers and frozen desserts.
Market oils vary a lot. Home-pressed oil can carry grit, water or smoke residue. It can also be cut with cheaper oils, and you cannot tell by looking.
Oil palm has been grown in West Africa for thousands of years. The fruit fed households long before it fed industry.
Traditional healers in Ghana, Nigeria and nearby countries used the black kernel oil widely. It was rubbed on babies after bathing, massaged into dry skin and scalps, and worked into hair.
It was also given by mouth, and this is where harm has happened. Carers poured it into the mouths of children having fits, often mixed with kerosene. It was also used as a home antidote after a child swallowed poison.
Both of those practices are recorded in medical reports from the region, along with the deaths that followed some of them. Describing a custom here is not a recommendation to repeat it.
Call emergency services at once if someone given this oil starts coughing, choking, wheezing or breathing fast, turns blue or grey, or becomes very sleepy. These can be signs that oil has entered the lungs.
Go to hospital now if a child has a fit lasting more than five minutes, or has repeated fits. Do not put anything in their mouth.
See a doctor within a few days if a rash spreads, weeps or crusts, if skin stays red and sore after you stop using the oil, or if a cough and fever start a day or two after any choking episode.
Ask your doctor or a dietitian to check your cholesterol if this oil is a daily part of your cooking.
Palm kernel oil is an ordinary food fat and cosmetic ingredient. In the US it is a recognised food oil, and in the UK and EU it is a standard food and cosmetic ingredient that must be named on the label. No country licenses it as a medicine.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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