Dietary fat is crucial in food formulation, in the current context on bakery products, from the aspects on structural properties (aeration and lightness) to rheological properties(fluidisation and plasticisation) and sensory attributes (crispiness, creaminess, odour, etc.)properties (Pareyt and Delcour, 2008). Palm oil and its fractions in particular, are widely used in bakery goods in view of its thermal stability and functionality. This could be explained by the proportional ratio between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (Mba et al., 2015). Red palm oil on this respect has better advantage as it possesses high carotenoid levels compared to palm oil. It also has assortment of health-promoting phytonutrients such as vitamin E, phytosterols, and co-enzyme Q10 (Loganathan et al., 2017). Carotenoids in red palm oil is highly bioavailable in human plasma, which explains the potential disease counteracting effect regardless of age (Loganathan et al., 2019). Red palm oil is effective as a source of pro-vitamin A in improving serum retinol concentrations in vitamin A deficient children, enhancing retinol level in maternal serum or breast milk, improving vision and conferring cardioprotective effects (Loganathan et al., 2017).

Main Researcher: Radhika Loganatahan
E-mail: radhika@mpob.gov.my