Consume without palm oil? It is possible but ...

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Consume without palm oil? It is possible but ...




by Christophe » 03/06/12, 09:54

The challenge of a French blogger chemist at war with palm oil

STRASBOURG (AFP) - 03.06.2012 06:02 - By Arnaud BOUVIER

From his kitchen, Adrien Gontier, a young French chemist, has set himself a more complex challenge than it seems: to live a year without consuming palm oil, an ingredient ubiquitous in our food and whose production is excessive is denounced by environmentalists.

From his kitchen, Adrien Gontier, a young French chemist, has set himself a more complex challenge than it seems: to live a year without consuming palm oil, an ingredient ubiquitous in our food and whose production is excessive is denounced by environmentalists.

On his blog (http://vivresanshuiledepalme.blogspot.fr), this 26-year-old researcher chronicles daily, with as much scientific rigor as pedagogy and humor, his efforts to find this hated compound in rusks, spreads, but also toothpaste or deodorants.

This challenge, which he saw "more as a fun than a constraint", was born out of a militant commitment to the service of ecology. Adrien, in geochemistry thesis, recently joined the environmental NGO Greenpeace, only buys his vegetables from small local producers, defends junk food and overconsumption.

If he cries haro on palm oil and all its derivatives, it is because this substance has become for ten years the first oil consumed on the planet, due to its massive use by the food industry.

Consequences: thousands of hectares of tropical forest are uprooted each year in Malaysia and Indonesia to make room for this intensive culture, local populations are expelled, the fauna decimated. Not to mention the impact on the health of consumers of this oil, which is very rich in saturated fatty acids.

"The idea of ​​this challenge is to investigate to find palm oil wherever it is found, and to think about how we can do without it", summarizes the thin and talkative young man, short hair, which sees itself as a "whistleblower" and regularly gives lectures on the subject in organic or environmental salons.

Living without palm oil is a constant challenge. If you cook yourself, a priori, no problem. But as soon as you buy industrial food (including harmless cupcakes), the fat in question, considered by manufacturers to be cheaper and more stable, is almost everywhere.

More slyly, through its derivatives (emulsifiers, antioxidants and other emollients, in particular), the fruit of the oil palm also slips into cleaning products, hygiene, and even into certain drugs. As well as in the diesel of diesel vehicles, through agrofuels.

Adrien therefore learned to test "homemade" recipes. In jam jars, he stores his own hazelnut spread, his own toothpaste (made from baking soda and green clay), his deodorant (made from alcohol, floral water and stone. alum) or its soap (soda and olive oil).

Stubbornly, he became an expert in deciphering the labels of consumer products, and to do this created a "little green guide", available on his site. "Read the labels!" Exclaims the blogger, who knows by heart all the convoluted names and sends hundreds of emails to manufacturers to demand more transparency on packaging.

"I am not naive: + vegetable oil +, without more precision, it is almost always the palm". But more mysterious names, like "glycerol monostearate", too. "Fortunately, I am a chemist, without that I would have difficulty finding my way", he laughs.

When the year without palm comes to an end in July, Adrien's fight will continue, albeit in a somewhat less strict form. "I will allow myself more pranks, but I will always have an aversion to palm oil."


http://www.tv5.org/cms/chaine-francopho ... -palme.htm
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