Science Fact 1: Oil palm
If you are driving along the North-South PLUS highway, you are loyally being accompanied by the gentle and continuous waving from these plants. While others are busy sleeping. We call it oil palm tree. Its specific name is Elaeis guineensis Jacq. Elaeis is derived from Greek word, elaion meaning oil while guineensis is named after its origin, Guinea Coast. What about Jacq.? Well, it is the name of the first discoverer of this plant, Jacquin. We guess you know where Guinea Coast is located right? The Elaeis was originated from West Africa and first introduced in Malaya as a decorative plant back in the 1900s. From there, its potential was exploited. Already #100years! Now Malaysia is the second top oil palm producer in the world after #Indonesia. Wow! For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Sounds like a Newton's Third Law of Motion. Isn't it? Along with this victory, we also produce mountains of biomass or byproducts. This leads to a #greatchallenge in agricultural waste and environmental management. Fret not, many scientists are working very hard to tackle this issue.
Science Fact 2: Oil palm frond
Do you know we produce about 40 million tonnes of OPF a year! My rough calculation this equivalent to about 66 KLCC Twin Tower (600k tonnes). Crazy! What can we do with this amount of OPF? After reading through some scientific literature, it is starstruck by the array of potential uses of this byproduct! Well, the most famous use is traditionally being exploited as broom and roof materials as well as fertilizer. Not surprising! At dairy farm, it was widely utilized to feed our dairy animals such as cattle, goat etc. Also, studies reported OPF is used to adsorb industrial pollutants such as oil, dye, pesticide and heavy metal released in our water system. What a cool use! However, this potential is yet to be explored exponentially. Cooler, researchers suggest OPF can be used as alternative source of bioethanol. Go green! What else? We found there’s a car component made by OPF! The most caught the eyes is OPF is consumed as a oil palm leaf tea! Who doesn’t like a cuppa tea.
Science Fact 3: Oil palm leaf
Do you know we can transform low-value oil palm leaf (OPL) into high-quality material that is worth millions of Malaysian Ringgit? But how? As a phytochemist, we acknowledge all plant is a factory to thousands of compounds, it has been serving as the main source of many derived marketed medicines since centuries ago. This includes OPL! We studied OPL contains major compound derivatives such as catechin, luteolin, and apigenin. Their chemical structure looks similar yet different. This may lead to one common characteristic which is antioxidative property. In a simple analogy, everyone pictures in a scavenging hunt. Starts off with two groups. Suddenly, the person in a group decides to pull out (stomachache). This group is trying to create damages. To calm the situation, another group donates one of its extra members. It is back to normal. Character: A generous group = antioxidant, A chaotic group = free radical. So, our body often encounters this situation. Magically, we have a secret weapon to counterattack the situation. When the diseases become serious, the body needs Help! Here come natural antioxidants from plants. Just imagine, OPL can be the secret weapon to this!
Science Fact 4: Wound
Do you know tribes in Bosomtwi-Atwima-Kwanwoma, Ghana have been using OPL as a wound healing remedy since decades ago. Well, inadequate facilities and poverty urged people to be creative. #oilpalmleafwonder The wounds without proper treatment could cause death! To date, at least 6 million peoples suffer from wounds yearly. Mesmerizingly our body has a unique wound defense mechanism. Once an injury happens, platelets are the small soldiers that working hard to build the barriers to avoid outsiders (bacteria) entering. This calls blood clotting. Watch this series, Cells at Work! (Episode 2) on Netflix. Wound healing is a complex process comprising of hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. The minor wound site will start to turn red and after a few days, the scar will form. However, the problem arrives when one suffers from a chronic wound such as burn, diabetic wound, amputation, foot ulcers, etc. Our body needs extra help! Here come natural products. Interestingly, scientists start to pay more attention to OPL due to its history. However, the toxicity profile and its responsible metabolites remain a mystery. The discovery continues.
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