Lighthouse Journalism found a long text message being widely shared on social media platforms, the message informed about the harmful effects of palm oil. The message was attributed to Dr P K Samantaray from AIIMS, New Delhi. The message claimed that palm oil is a major health risk, especially for children, linking it to heart attacks, diabetes, and other health issues.
The message accuses the palm oil industry of endangering public health by using it in everyday food products, and urges people to avoid items containing palm oil and spread awareness. During the investigation we found that Dr P K Samantaray had not made any such claim, neither had he written anything about this on his social media profiles.
Claim:
The message was found to be shared widely on WhatsApp:
[A very important message from my network]
Dear Friends!
I am Dr. P K Samantaray, MBBS, MD from AIIMS, New Delhi.
I am working as Professor and HOD Psychiatry, at Jagjivan Ram Hospital, Mumbai.
I would like to make a small request to you.
Before that, I would like to share a small piece of information with you.
Many of you might have read today’s newspapers that
EMRI results say, majority of people having Heart Attack are less than 50 years old.
You will be surprised to know the culprit is Palm Oil. It’s far far more dangerous than Alchol and Smoking put together.
India is the highest importer for Palm oil in this world.
The Palm oil mafia is very very big.
Our children, who are the future, are at a big risk.
There is no fast food available in this country without Palm Oil.
If you go to our grocery store, try to pick up a children’s edible food without Palm oil – you will not succeed.
You will be interested to know even Biscuits of big companies are made from it, and similarly all chocolates.
We are made to believe they are healthy, but we never knew about the killer Palm oil or Palmitic acid
The big companies like Lays use different oil in Western Countries and Palm oil in India just because it is Cheap.
Each time our child eats a product with Palm Oil, the brain behaves inappropriately and signals to secrete fat around and in the Heart This leads to Diabetes at a very young age.
The World Economic Form has projected that 50 percent of people who Die at young age will die of Diabetes and Heart Disease.
The Palm Oil mafia has made our Children addicted to Junk Food, leaving the fruits and Vegetables aside, which are Heart protective.
Next time you buy something for your child, see the label of the product.
If it has Palm oil or Palmolienic oil or Palmitic acid, avoid buying it!
We, have written to our Hon’ble Prime Minister and are also in the process of making similar letters from 1 Lakh Doctors across India to take some action to secure our future generations.
Once again.
I want to emphasize on impending danger to our children.
Pls protect our Children. They are the future of our Country! Please forward this message.
Don’t forget to forward this to your close friends and family members. Please note to send. as many persons as possible.
P. S: please share without editing.
The message is also being shared on other social media platforms.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by doing a Google text search on the contents from the text message. We did not find any text, article or a blog written by the AIIMS doctor Dr P K Samantaray about the harmful effects of palm oil.
We then ran a Google search on the name of the AIIMS doctor, ‘DR P K Samantaray’. Through this we found the Facebook page of Dr P K Samantaray.
The intro on his Facebook page said: I am a Psychiatrist. I have passed out from AIIMS NEW DELHI. Currently working as Chief Psychiatrist and Chief Medical superintendent of Central Railway
We did not find any text similar to the viral message on his Facebook page.
The page also had mentioned his phone number hence we connected with Dr P K Samantaray and shared the widely shared message in his name. He informed us that the message is being circulated in his name and that he did not write or share the message.
We found a few research articles that linked the palm oil to harmful effects.
An article on the Harvard website mentioned: Palm oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil — the so-called tropical oils — got a bad reputation because they’re high in saturated fat, which has long been linked to heart disease.
A petition was also introduced to ban palm oil in India on change.org.
This petition was started by one named Pradeep Agrawal and the text that accompanied the petition was the same that is being widely shared even today in the name of Dr P K Samantaray.
Conclusion: AIIMS doctor, Dr P K Samantaray did not share a viral message warning about palm oil’s harmful effects being widely shared on social media platforms. Viral claim is misleading.
