Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Walk into any pharmacy and you will see shelves lined with bottles of fish oil and evening primrose oil soft gels.

These yellow-coloured fish oil and evening primrose soft gels are imported and fortified with oilseed vitamin E called tocopherols.

But consumers may be better off with palm oil extracts. These orange-hued palm oil extracts are made in Malaysia and contain vitamins A and E, squalene and coenzyme Q10 that help boost our immune system.

It is a little known fact but palm oil extracts, which contain tocotrienols, are far more potent than fish oil supplements that are only fortified with oilseed tocopherols.

Vitamin E is actually a family of tocopherols and tocotrienols.

Malaysians are more familiar with imported fish oil than palm oil extracts because scientific studies on tocopherols are far more established than those for tocotrienols.

"There are not that many nutraceutical and cosmeceutical studies on tocotrienols compared with tocopherols," Ipoh-based Hovid Group managing director David Ho said.

Currently, less than one per cent of published studies on vitamin E focus on tocotrienols. Tocopherols are sourced from oilseeds such as soya oil, canola and sunflower, while tocotrienols are only available in high concentration in palm oil and rice bran oil. Both of these are grown in tropical countries.

Over the last decade or so, studies have shown that palm oil vitamin E, particularly the tocotrienols, is a far more potent antioxidant than tocopherols.

Preliminary studies prove tocotrienols can heal body cells and trigger cancerous cells to commit suicide. It is these unique biological activities in tocotrienols that show a promising future in finding cures for stroke, heart diseases and cancer.

Malaysia does not sell that much palm nutraceuticals locally because the export market is far more lucrative. A kilogramme of palm oil vitamin E sells for US$600 (RM2,160). Touted as "edible gold" among industry circles, the tocotrienol health supplement is the highest valued product in the sprawling palm oil supply chain.

Ho said his company exported more palm oil vitamin E than it sold locally. "We sell to 20 countries under the brand name Tocovid. Last year, we earned RM10 million in exports."

Another reason for the lack of awareness of heart-healthy palm oil extracts in Malaysia is the minimal advertising budget. The handful of Malaysian companies producing palm nutraceuticals prefer to spend their money on research and development rather than on marketing and advertisements.

"We spend RM5 million on research and development annually. Our health supplements speak for themselves," Ho said.

Tocovid is sold at a premium over other palm oil vitamin E soft gels because its patented SupraBio formulation boosts by three times the absorption rate into the bloodstream. "You would usually need to take vitamin E after a heavy meal like Nasi Kandar. But with our Suprabio formulation you can take Tocovid first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. It is that convenient," he said.