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The African continent has wide, varied, and rich plant diversity due to its climate. Some of these plants and their products have received tremendous attention due to their benefits in treating and managing ailments that plagues humanity. Red palm oil (RPO) is one of such natural products that have immense nutritional value with ability to ameliorate cardiac- and reproductive-related disorders. In this review article, the current knowledge on the potential of RPO as a phytomedicine to lessen or even prevent the negative impact of obesity on general health status and male fertility was evaluated. This study was done using electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar and Web of Science. The study revealed some controversies and inconsistent reports on the effect of RPO on obesity and male fertility which needs further research using appropriate experimental models of obesity. Obesity is known to disrupt male fertility by causing changes to the hypothalamic- pituitary-gonadal axis, thus impairing steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis. As spermatozoa are extremely sensitive towards oxidative stress, a carefully balanced daily supplementation of normal diet with antioxidant-rich RPO might be useful to protect spermatozoa and preserving male fertility. RPO was shown to be useful to protect against or ameliorate toxin- or medical condition-induced male infertility. Also, RPO is packed with powerful antioxidants like carotenoids and vitamin E which helps to prevent cell damage. However, its role in obesity prevention remains a debate.

This study investigated the effects of two common cooking oils (palm oil, PO) and (groundnut oil, GO) supplementation on the antioxidant status and diabetic indices in Alloxan (100mg/kg) induced diabetic Wistar rats. A total of forty-eight Wistar rats of both sexes were used for this study. They were divided into four groups of 12 animals each as: control, diabetic non-supplemented, diabetic supplemented with PO (200mg/kg/day) and diabetic supplemented with GO (200mg/kg/day) rats. Blood glucose, plasma vitamin E, SOD, Total Protein and Albumin levels were measured using standard laboratory procedures. After three weeks of supplementation there was a significant (p0.05) reduction in blood glucose of supplemented groups compared with the diabetic non-supplemented group. Plasma Vitamins C and E, SOD, and Albumin levels were significantly (p0.05) increased in the supplemented groups when compared with the diabetic non-supplemented group. However, the plasma levels of these parameters were found to be significantly (p0.05) higher in the GO supplemented rats compared with the PO supplemented group. The plasma vitamin C levels in the diabetic groups were lower than in other groups while increased levels in the plasma total protein were not significant. There was no significant difference in the measured parameters in reference to the gender of the animals. It was concluded from this study that GO exhibited superior antioxidant activities and that the supplementation of red palm oil and ground nut oil as a source of antioxidant was beneficial in diabetic state as it reduced blood glucose and enhance antioxidant status.

Scientific evidence abound to show that the prevalence of diabetes mellitus(DM) is increasing around the world at a rate that appears dramatic as to have been characterized as an epidemic[1]. Among several factors that have been postulated to contribute to DM epidemic, environmental factors have drawn particular attention because of the rapidity of the increase in type 2 or the so called ‘maturity onset’ diabetes mellitus. Nobuko Seike, Mitsuhiko Noda and Takashi Kadowaki [2] evaluated the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of type 2 DM, it was pointed out that type 2 diabetes mellitus is closely related to life style factors including diet, physical activities, alcohol and smoking as well as obesity and a family history of diabetes. According to the researchers, in Japan the prevalence of diabetes mellitus both for men over age 50 and women over 60 well exceeds 10% and most have type 2 DM which is associated with excessive energy intake, lack of physical exercise and obesity. In addition, Mayes and Botham[3] revealed that obesity – particularly, abdominal obesity(a diet related disorder) is a risk factor for increased mortality, hypertension, type 2 DM, hyperlipidaemia and various endocrine dysfunctions.