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Review Article Volume 13 Issue 2
Palm oil consumption and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic literature review
Loso Judijanto
Received: August 12, 2026 | Published: August 28, 2026
Citation: Judijanto L. Palm oil consumption and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic literature review. J Diabetes Metab Disord Control. 2026;13(2):97-104. DOI: 10.15406/jdmdc.2026.13.00319
Abstract
The metabolic implications of palm oil consumption remain disputed because clinical reports frequently combine chemically distinct exposures, including refined palm oil, red or minimally refined palm oil, palm olein, isolated palmitic acid, and interesterified palmbased fats. This systematic review therefore reassessed the relationship between palm oilrelated exposures and glycemic control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), with specific attention to insulin resistance, processing-related variation, short intervention windows, dietary-matrix confounding, and molecular mechanisms. The review followed PRISMA principles and used a structured synthesis of 36 eligible reports identified from a Scopusbased search for 2019–2026. In addition to direction-of-effect synthesis, the distribution of each study’s primary analytical focus was quantified using proportions, Wilson 95% confidence intervals, and a chi-square goodness-of-fit test. Fasting-glucose studies represented 27.8% of the corpus, insulin-sensitivity or insulin-resistance studies 22.2%, comparative-fat studies 19.4%, HbA1c studies 16.7%, and bioactive-compound studies 13.9%; the distribution did not differ significantly from equal allocation across domains (χ²(4)=2.06, p=0.726). Direct clinical evidence did not establish a consistent independent effect of palm oil on fasting glucose or HbA1c, but certainty was constrained by short followup, small samples, heterogeneous products, and mixed dietary interventions. Mechanistic and preclinical evidence was more cautionary: palmitate can impair IRS-1/PI3K/Akt signaling through lipotoxic, inflammatory, and stress pathways, while interesterified palm oil has produced adverse adipose and metabolic responses in animal models. Conversely, red palm oil and tocotrienol-rich fractions retain bioactive compounds that are substantially reduced during refining and may modulate oxidative and inflammatory pathways. Evidence involving PPAR-α, PPAR-γ, FABP2, FFAR1, AMPK, NF-κB, and related targets remains predominantly preclinical and should not be treated as proof of clinical benefit or harm. Overall, the evidence is context-dependent and insufficient for a blanket conclusion that all palm oil forms are metabolically neutral or uniformly harmful.
Keywords: palm oil, palmitic acid, glycemic control, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, insulin resistance, interesterification, systematic review
©2026 Judijanto. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.