Palmitic Acid from Palm Oil and Cancer Metastasis: A Review

This research is motivated by the increasing attention to the role of palmitic acid—the main component of palm oil—in the process of cancer metastasis, amidst the complexity of the relationship between lipid metabolism and tumor progression. This study aims to synthesize the latest scientific evidence regarding the biological mechanisms involved and assess the relevance of these findings in the context of food consumption. The methodology uses a PRISMA-based Systematic Literature Review of 31 Scopus-indexed articles from the period 2020–2025. The results indicate that palmitic acid plays a role in various metastasis pathways, such as EMT modulation, increased lipid uptake through CD36, inflammation activation, and metabolic reprogramming. However, clinical evidence does not show a direct causal relationship between palm oil consumption and metastasis. The implication is that interpretation must be contextual, so that food policy and governance need to be based on comprehensive evidence that considers the complexity of metabolic systems and consumption patterns.