The use of red palm oil as an intervention food for preventing vitamin A deficiency Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that supports growth, immune function and vision in humans. Vitamin A deficiency is primarily a public health problem in developing countries where dietary sources of vitamin A are not as available as in industrialized countries. Vitamin A can be obtained from carotenoids (mainly beta-carotene) found in certain plant products such as dark green leafy vegetables and dark orange fruits and vegetables such as sweet potato and mango. However, red palm oil is the richest natural source of beta-carotene. It contains a total of 500 to 800 mg of provitamin A carotenoids/kg of oil, which is 15 times higher than the carotenoid content of a carrot. Not only is red palm oil a rich source of beta-carotene, but the carotenoids it contains are easily absorbed because they are already dissolved in the oil. For these reasons, red palm oil is a plant food that solves the problem of low bioavailability (Burns & Rice, 2013). Red palm oil is an important cooking oil in the diet of populations living near tropical rainforest because palm oils are native to the rainforest regions of West Africa (Burns and Rice, 2013). In its natural state, red palm oil has a bright color and strong taste. Its distinctive flavor might decrease its chances of acceptance, but because it is highly concentrated, it has authority over other dietary interventions to improve vitamin A deficiency (10 grams of red palm oil can provide more than 40 mg of provitamin A carotenoids) (Burri, 2012). This means that it does not need to be consumed in large quantities and should not be consumed daily. Few studies have...... middle of paper ...... red palm oil is refined, its chances of serving as a nutritional supplement are reduced. Works Cited Brahman, GNV, Manorama, R., & Rukmini, C. (1996). Red palm oil as a source of beta-carotene to combat vitamin A deficiency. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 49, 75-82. Burns, JB and Rice, AL (2013). Moving from efficiency to effectiveness: red palm oil. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 29(3), 302-313. doi:10.1080/07315724.2010.1071984Burri, B.J. (2012). Assessment of global barriers to the use of red palm oil as an intervention food to prevent vitamin A deficiency. Comprehensive Reviews of Food Science and Food Safety, 11, 221-232. doi: doi: 10.1111/j.1541-4337.2011.00181.xManorama, R. and Rukmini, C., Sarita, M., (1997). Red palm oil to combat vitamin A deficiency. Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 6(1), 56-59.