Coconut oil has run the gamut from \u201cevil\u201d saturated fat villain, to newest nutrition superpower. Like many things in the nutrition world, the conflicting information can be a bit confusing at best, and downright dangerous at its worst. So, should you make coconut oil part of your diet or avoid it at all costs?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s first take a quick look at what coconut oil is and then we\u2019ll discuss whether that makes it a nutrition friend or foe. Coconut oil is a medium chain triglyceride (MCT). This means that it is of a particular length rare to most sources of dietary fat (most are what are known as Long Chain Fatty Acids). The longer chains must be broken down to be digested, and then \u201cre-assembled\u201d in the body for use or storage. MCTs, however, get a direct pass to the liver, making them more easily and readily absorbed and available for almost immediate energy use. Without getting too technical, MCTs breakdown into ketones, a compound the body can use for energy, including the brain. This last point is particularly important. The brain prefers glucose (sugar) for energy, so much so that the body keeps a constant reserve of glucose JUST for the brain for times of starvation\/scarcity. However, the brain can also utilize ketones!<\/p>\n
In addition to being a good source of quick energy, coconut oil is composed of a number of different fatty acids (different kinds of fats), 50% of which are Lauric Acid. I know, this is a lot of technical jargon. Bottomline? Lauric Acid has been found to have potent bacterial, viral, and fungal fighting effects. In other words, Lauric acid kills bacteria, viruses, and fugi and it\u2019s found quite plentifully in coconut oil! What\u2019s more, this particular fatty acid is almost exclusively found in coconut products, with no other readily or commonly available sources.<\/p>\n
Because coconut oil can both be used quickly for energy and that form of energy is ketones, which have an appetite-reducing effect, coconut oil has been studied for potential weight loss use. In these studies, participants added about an ounce of coconut oil to their diets for a number of weeks.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t add or change their diet or exercise purposefully otherwise. At the end of the trial period, participants had a significant reduction in their BMI AND waist circumferences! Abdominal obesity or excess fat is the most dangerous type, so reduction in waist circumference even independent of an actual change in weight has a positive impact on your health.<\/p>\n
Additionally, coconut oil has been used in a number of studies to treat Alzheimer\u2019s patients with remarkable success in a reduction of symptoms and delay of disease progression. Remember when I mentioned the brain can use ketones for energy too? Well, in Alzheimer\u2019s patients, the brain\u2019s ability to utilize glucose seems to be compromised, leaving the brain essentially \u201cstarving\u201d. Using coconut oil with its MCTs provides ketones that the brain is then able to use and help it keep operating at much improved levels.<\/p>\n
Finally, there\u2019s a big concern about coconut oil being \u201cbad\u201d for your health because it is a highly saturated fat. We\u2019ve been told that saturated fat = bad, unsaturated = good. I\u2019ll be doing a post that discusses the dangers of many unsaturated fats soon, but suffice to say that this fear over saturated fat and heart health is ill founded. Feel free to read my post about Saturated Fat on the CoreLife blog to get a more in-depth look at how truly false this nutrition guidance has been. And, if you\u2019re still not sure, know that a number of studies on coconut oil, specifically, have found that coconut oil not only\u00a0reduced<\/em>\u00a0total and LDL cholesterol (the so-called \u201cbad\u201d cholesterol), but also\u00a0increased<\/em>\u00a0HDL cholesterol (\u201cgood\u201d cholesterol).<\/p>\n Bottom line: Coconut oil is full of saturated fat. It is readily absorbed by the body and used for quick energy. It kills bacteria, viruses, and fungi, reduces hunger, has been shown to reduce BMI and waist circumference in obese subjects, helps in improving mental status and brain function in Alzheimer\u2019s patients, AND appears to improve your cholesterol in a way that helps prevent heart disease! My recommendation? Add some coconut oil to your diet. Make sure it\u2019s UNREFINED. Use it in place of other cooking oils to saut\u00e9 veggies, use coconut milk in smoothies and curries, try even adding some coconut oil to your coffee for a creamy, rich treat. Need more ideas on how to add coconut oil to your diet? Come see us at CoreLife!<\/p>\n Aubrey Phelps MS RDN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coconut oil has run the gamut from \u201cevil\u201d saturated fat villain, to newest nutrition superpower. Like many things in the nutrition world, the conflicting information can be a bit confusing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n