Palm Oil Health Awareness Evening Forum is one of MPOC’s signature events in collaboration with the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA Wilayah Persekutuan, Penang and Pahang Branch), Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) and Penang Medical Practitioners’ Society (PMPS). The main objective was to generate interest on palm oil and palm tocotrienols among medical doctors, pharmacists and other professionals from the biomedical fields.
Opening remark by Datuk Dr. Kalyana Sundram, CEO MPOC at Hilton Petaling Jaya
Health professionals are one of the primary target groups for MPOC’s palm oil promotion exercise because of their important role in providing advices and recommendations that promote health to communities. They are also the key players in providing technical guidance in health policy development and enhancement. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that they convey precise and accurate information about palm oil at hand.
The Palm Oil Health Awareness Evening Forum, which focuses on the issues of health and nutrition namely, saturated fatty acids and palm oil phytonutrients, was attended by almost 400 participants. As of August 2019, three evening forums have been organized. The venues were:
- Evening Forum at Hilton Petaling Jaya Hotel on 13th April 2019
Lecture 1: Dietary culprits triggering coronary heart disease (CHD) Risk: Fats versus carbohydrates.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pramod Khosla, Wayne State University, USA
Lecture 2: Benefits of palm Vitamin E tocotrienols in the aging brain.
Prof. Dr. Yuen Kah Hay, Universiti Sains Malaysia
- Evening Forum at Jen Hotel Penang on 29th June 2019
Lecture 1: Updates on saturated fats and palm oil in human nutrition.
Dr. Kanga Rani Selvaduray, Malaysian Palm Oil Board
Lecture 2: Benefits of palm Vitamin E tocotrienols in the aging brain.
Prof. Dr. Yuen Kah Hay, Universiti Sains Malaysia
- Evening Forum at Hyatt Regency Kuantan, Pahang on 20th July 2019
Lecture 1: Palm oil and health.
Prof. Dr. Tilakavati Karupaiah, Taylor’s University
Lecture 2: Benefits of palm Vitamin E tocotrienols in the aging brain.
Prof. Dr. Yuen Kah Hay, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Q&A session chaired by Dr. Ruslan Abdullah, Director Science & Environment MPOC
In conjunction to the evening forum, exhibitions were set up with the objective to create awareness on the palm oil-based products and dissemination of technical information on palm oil. Among the displays were palm oil-based cooking oil such as commercial palm olein, red palm oil, “Smart Balance” cooking oil, palm oil-based food product such as peanut butter, margarine, cookies, cereal and drinks as well as palm oil-based non-food products including body lotion, toothpaste and soap. Hovid Berhad and Sime Darby Oils also participated in the exhibition. Samples of vitamin E tocotrienols supplements and promotional materials were also for distributed.
Hovid Berhad
Sime Darby Oils
The participants found that the evening forum was a well-structured programme with a good coverage and conclusive topics regarding palm oil. Involvement by a pool of speakers whom are very well versed on study design which made them able to provide evidence based facts is also the plus point for this programme. The awareness evening forum is able to narrow the overall knowledge and perception gap towards palm oil.
Prepared by:
Sarafhana Dollah & Nursabrina Mohd Hayat
