I used to be a biochemist, but my speciality was diabetes, not lipids per se. I recalled the facts more or less as put forward in this: http://cspinet.org/palmoilreport/… Basically, palm oil contains saturated fats. These are the components in beef that make it less healthful as a major component of diets. Since these "healthy diet" things are epidemiological in basis, the Luddites with vested interests can quibble (but that does not make them right). Jim Shields retired biochemist At 12:09 PM 10/15/2009 -0700, you wrote: >Aaron asked "How is palm oil unhealthy?" > > >Because, here in the US, we tend to associate heart disease with meat >consumption, I was really surprised when an Indian friend called my >attention to the very high rate of heart disease in India (where so many >people are largely if not entirely vegetarians) and other parts >of southeastern Asia. She attributed to the high levels of palm oil >consumption in those areas. > >I took her word for it and have not researched this myself, so if you are >seriously interested in this, do some more research. > >Jim McKenney >Aaron asked "How is palm oil unhealthy?" ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA