Red palm oil is a natural minimally processed vegetable oil. It is rich in carotene and tocotrienols. Palm oil is the most widely used commercially available cooking oil with high amount of provitamin A carotenoids and vitamin E tocotrienols.

Vitamin A is vital for fetal occular health, maintenance of immune system and the development of skeletal and other organs, at the early stages of pregnancy. The best dietary source of vitamin A in early and late infancy is breastmilk. After birth, the infant needs continuous supply of vitamin A for optimal health, growth and development.

Breastmilk also protects infants against infectious diseases. However, the concentration of vitamin A in breastmilk is only 1 micro mol/L, which is barely enough to meet the metabolic requirements of infants. A breastfed infant could become vitamin A deficient if the maternal vitamin A status remains poor. Therefore it is pivotal for maternal vitamin A status to be optimum to ensure ample supply via breastmilk to a growing infant.

Red palm oil has been reported to potentially treat and prevent malnutrition and vitamin deficiency. It has been found to increase vitamin A content in breastmilk often doubling.