Coconut oil

Coconut oil consists for about 50% of saturated fatty acids (SFAs), predominantly in the form of lauric acid, a 12 carbon fatty acid. A long held "truth" about saturated fats is that they raise cholesterol and "thus" increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. But is this truly the case? Let's hear what some experts in the field have to say about this, like Mary Enig, a well known lipid researcher in the US:

"Recently, an editorial by Harvard's Walter Willett, M.D. in the American Journal of Public Health (1990) acknowledged that even though

"the focus of dietary recommendations is usually a reduction of saturated fat intake, no relation between saturated fat intake and risk of CHD was observed in the most informative prospective study to date."

Another editorial, this time by Framingham's William P. Castelli in the Archives of Internal Medicine (1992), declared for the record that

"...in Framingham, Mass, the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person's serum cholesterol... the opposite of what the equations provided by Hegsted at al (1965) and Keys et al (1957) would predict..."

Castelli further admitted that

"...In Framingham, for example, we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least, and were the most physically active." "

(http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut_oil.html )

Ok, hold on a minute: so the more saturated fat, cholesterol AND calories one ate in Framingham, the lower his/ her serum cholesterol was? And those same people were apparently the most active ones and weighed the least? Isn't that the exact opposite message that we have heard for years? How can this be?

The Framingham Study that is mentioned still is the center of the established medical world to define, assess and estimate the risk for cardiovascular disease. This study began in 1948 and William Castelli, the man who is mentioned in the quote by Enig, was involved in this study since 1965 and was the leading scientist since 1979. Castelli directed the study for over 26 years until his retiring in 1995.

See here for a more elaborate dissertation about widely used assumptions, conclusions and "truths" regarding cholesterol, fats, and disease and why the arguments for all these common knowlegde often are quite..."thin" so to speak...

"Initial trials have confirmed that coconut oil does have an anti-viral effect and can beneficially reduce the viral load of HIV patients", University of the Philippines' Emeritus professor of pharmocology Dr. Conrato S. Dayrit said.

Of all the fatty acids that coconut oil keeps, lauric acid (C-12) has the greatest beneficial effect.

Monolaurin, for which lauric acid is the precursor, disrupts and inactivates the lipid membrane of envelop viruses like corona virus, West Nile virus, HIV and Adenovirus and also inactivates certain bacteria, yeasts and fungi.

Of all the saturated fatty acids, lauric acid has a larger antiviral activity than either caprlylic (C-10) or myristic (C-14)acid. Monolaurin acts by dissolving the envelope of the virus, causing its breakdown. Furthermore, monolaurin has a destructive effect on viruses like herpes, cytomegalovirus, flu, several pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes, Helicobacter pylori and protozoa like Giardia lamblia. Being infected with Helicobacter pylori bears with it a 3 times higher risk of stomach cancer.

There are reports of AIDS / HIV patients in whose blood there could be found no HIV viruses any more after consumption of some coconut oil or coconut products. Their health level normalized remarkably well.

When you start using coconut oil, it is best not to overdo, as the reaction with microorganisms in the gut (e.g. Candida albicans) can occur quite robustly. Please inform yourself whether you're carrying excessive fungal growth in the gut before extensively using this product, to reduce nasty side effects...

Coconut oil comes in handy when it coms to losing weight. The medium chain fatty acids stimulate the thyroid gland to excrete thyroid hormones, which in turn increase your fat metabolism, resulting in a higher rate of fat burning.

The MCFAs which are very common in coconut oil, are differently absorbed by your body than let's say, the PUFAs (for explanation of these abbreviations: see "Glossary"). The MCFAs are directly taken up in your blood stream to be used for energy. This can be a great advantage for people who, for whatever reason, are uncomfortable with eating large amounts of fat, because the liver and gallbladder play no role in the absorption of fatty acids here.

The applications of coconut oil vary widely: you can bake your meal in it, create the most delicious tropically inspired smoothies, eat it right out of the can, add it to hot chocolate or blend in your recipes for cookies and pies. Coconut oil is a very stable fat, since the fully hydrogen-saturated fatty acid chains inhibit oxidation and the rancidity to the greatest extent.

Coconut oil can also be applied in hair and skin. Coconut oil acts as a desinfectant and can also be used as a masage oil, killing even the bacteria under your arms that produce the unpleasantly smelling sweat (I tried myself the other day, and I must say it works!!).

Click here to order be directed to a US website supplying you of your own organic, unrefined and nutritionally high coconut oil!

To be able to answer that question, I'll sum up some commonly known saturated fat sources, and I will compare these with coconut oil. I will be comparing the fatty acid profile of these food sources. Come and take a look with me: can you tell the difference? I bet you can!

(Sources: www.nutritiondata.com , "Understanding normal and clinical nutrition", Whitney, E.N. et al, 6th edition 2002, Wadsworth )

What has probably occured to you is the greatly different fatty acid profiles of the above food sources, as compared to coconut oil.

Meat mainly comprises the LCFAs (long chain fatty acids), whilst coconut oil mainly comprises the MCFAs medium chain fatty acids). So, clearly this can have profoundly different effects on metabolism. And it has. Medium chain fatty acids are known to:

Haven't I already mentioned that cardiovascular diseas is highly uncommon in the PukaPuka and Tokelau (Polynesia) populations? Their diet consists mainly of coconut products and thus saturated fats...

"Understanding normal and clinical nutrition", Whitney, E.N. et al, 6e editie 2002, Wadsworth, p. 142.

Per 100 grams	Hamburger, average	Chicken filet, cooked	Pork, cooked	coconut oil
Total fat	25.0 g	3.6	13.1	100 g
Total saturated fat	9.5 g	1.0	4.8	86,5 g
Fatty acids:
4:0	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	-	0.0 mg
6:0	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	-	600 mg
8:0	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	-	7500 mg
10:0	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	10.0 mg	5999 mg
12:0	17.0 mg	10.0 mg	10.0 mg	44600 mg
13:0	-	-	-	-
14:0	759 mg	30.0 mg	180 mg	16800 mg
15:0	122 mg	-	-	-
16:0	5404 mg	690 mg	2970 mg	8200 mg
17:0	286 mg	-	-	-
18:0	2924 mg	250 mg	1540 mg	2800 mg
19:0	-	-	-	-
20:0	19.0 mg	-	-	-
22:0	0.0 mg	-	-	-
24:0	-	-	-	-

	MCFA: 0 %	MCFA: 1 %	MCFA: 0 %	MCFA:68 %
	LCFA: 100%	LCFA: 99 %	LCFA: 100%	LCFA:32 %
	'-' means: no data available