Once consumed, palm oil does not remain intact in the digestive tract for long, for it's soon attacked by the digestive enzyme pancreatic lipase, breaking down the fat molecules into smaller fragments called "fatty acids and mono-glycerides". These digestive products are then absorbed.

Refined palm oil and its processed fractions, palm olein and palm stearin, are in fact 95-97% digestible, which falls within the digestibility range of 93-99% for most edible oils and fats.