Nature's Miracle: Coconut Oil

Coconut Oil is Amazing!

Coconuts are a source of important nutrients and fatty acids that can be used to improve your health. These super healthy compounds are found in the fat part of whole coconut, in the fat part of desiccated coconut, and in the extracted coconut oil.

Health Benefits Beyond Basic Nutrients
Coconut is sometimes refereed to as the ultimate functional food. The term functional food is defined as a food that “provides a health benefit over and beyond the basic nutrients” and this is exactly what coconuts and coconut oil do. As a functional food, coconut provides fatty acids that give you energy in the form of nutrients, and raw material for antimicrobial properties in the form of fatty acids and monoglycerides (functional components). Certain fatty acids in coconuts and coconut oil can actually inactivate nasty microorganisms like bacteria, yeast, fungi, and viruses.

Recently published research has shown that natural coconut fat leads to the following health benefits:

1.A normalization of body lipids.

2.Protects against alcohol damage to the liver.

3.Improves the immune system’s anti-inflammatory response.

Beneficial Fatty Acids

Lauric acid, the major fatty acid from the fat of the coconut, has long been recognized for the unique properties that it lends to coconut oil's non-food uses in the soaps and cosmetics industry. More recently, lauric acid has been recognized for its unique properties in food use, which are related to its antiviral and antibacterial functions. Capric acid is another of coconut’s fatty acids is also one of coconut’s antimicrobial components. Large amounts of both of these fatty acids are found in coconut.

Lauric Acid

Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body. Monolaurin is the antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal to destroy viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria, including listeria monocytogenes and helicobacter pylori, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia.

Capric Acid
Approximately 6-7% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are capric acid. Capric acid is another medium chain fatty acid, which has a similar beneficial function when it is formed into monocaprin in the human or animal body. Monocaprin has also been shown to have antiviral effects against HIV and is being tested for antiviral effects against herpes simplex and antibacterial effects against sexually transmitted bacteria.

What About the Saturated Fat in Coconut Oil?

Desiccated coconut is about 69% coconut fat, as is creamed coconut. Full coconut milk is approximately 24% fat. Unfortunately, the coconut industry has suffered more than three decades of abusive rhetoric from the consumer activist group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), from the American Soybean Association (ASA) and other members of the edible oil industry, and from those in the medical and scientific community who learned their misinformation from groups like CSPI and ASA. The origins of the misguided anti-saturated fat, anti-tropical oil campaigns of the past decade are in need of illumination.

When and how did the anti-saturated fat story begin? It really began in part in the late 1950s, when a researcher in Minnesota announced that the heart disease epidemic was being caused by hydrogenated vegetable fats. The edible oil industry's response at that time was to claim it was only the saturated fat in the hydrogenated oils that was causing the problem. The industry then announced that it would be changing to partially hydrogenated fats and that this would solve the problem.

In actual fact, there was no change because the oils were already being partially hydrogenated, and the levels of saturated fatty acids remained similar, as did the levels of the trans fatty acids. The only thing that really changed was the term for hydrogenation or hardening listed on the food label.

During this same period, a researcher in Philadelphia reported that consuming polyunsaturated fatty acids lowered serum cholesterol. This researcher, however, neglected to include the information that the lowering was due to the cholesterol going into the tissues, such as the liver and the arteries. As a result of this research report and its acceptance by the domestic edible oils industries, there was a gradual increase in the emphasis on replacing "saturated fats" in the diet and on the consuming of larger amounts of the "polyunsaturated fats." This strong emphasis on consuming polyunsaturates has backfired in many ways: the current adjustments being recommended in the U.S. by groups such as the National Academy of Sciences replace the saturates with monounsaturates (instead of with polyunsaturates) and replaces polyunsaturates with monounsaturates. For a clear article explaining different kinds of fats see: The Skinny on Fats.

In 1966, the U.S. Department of Agriculture documents on fats and oils talked about how unstable the unsaturated fats and oils were. There was no criticism of the saturated fats. That criticism of saturated fat was to come later to this agency when it came under the influence of the domestic edible fats and oils industry, and when it developed the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. These Dietary Guidelines became very anti-saturated fat and remain so to this day. Nevertheless, some reversal of this agency's anti-saturated fat agenda has been in the works since 1998 and the medium chain saturated fats (like those found in coconut oil) are now being recognized for their health benefits.

Coconut Oil and Heart Disease

The research over four decades concerning coconut oil in the diet and heart disease is quite clear: coconut oil has been shown to be beneficial. Research had shown that islanders with high intakes of coconut oil showed "no evidence of the high saturated fat intake having a harmful effect in these populations." When these groups migrated to New Zealand, however, and lowered their intake of coconut oil, their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol increased, and their HDL cholesterol decreased. Statements that any saturated fat is a dietary problem is not supported by evidence.

In spite of what has been said over the past four or more decades about the culpability of the saturated fatty acids in heart disease, they are ultimately going to be held blameless. More and more research is showing the problem to be related to oxidized products. One protection man has against oxidized products is the naturally saturated fats such as coconut oil.

Certain “health experts” have claimed that trans fatty acids are “just as bad as” saturated fatty acids. The following list illustrates the biological effects of saturated fatty acids in the diet versus the biological effects of trans fatty acids in the diet.

When one compares the saturated fatty acids and the trans fatty acids, we see that:

(1) Saturated fatty acids raise HDL cholesterol, the so-called good cholesterol, but trans fatty acids lower HDL cholesterol.

(2) Saturated fatty acids conserve the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, whereas trans fatty acids cause the tissues to lose these omega-3 fatty acids.

(3) Saturated fatty acids are the normal fatty acids made by the body, and they do not interfere with enzyme functions, whereas trans fatty acids are not made by the body, and they interfere with many enzyme functions (such as delta-6-desaturase).

(4) Some saturated fatty acids support the immune system by fighting viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, whereas trans fatty acids interfere with the function of the immune system.

Coconut Oil Won't Make You Fat

Research that compares coconut oil feeding with other oils to answer a variety of biological questions is increasingly finding beneficial results from the coconut oil.  Obesity is a major health problem in the United States and the subject of much research. Several lines of research dealing with metabolic effects of high fat diets have been followed. One study used coconut oil to enrich a high fat diet and the results reported were that the "coconut-oil enriched diet is effective in...reducing fat stores."

Another researcher fed genetically obese animals high fat diets of either safflower oil or coconut oil. Safflower oil-fed animals had higher hepatic lipogenic enzyme activities than did coconut oil fed animals. When the number of fat cells were measured, the safflower oil-fed also had more fat cells than the coconut oil-fed.

Several studies have pointed out problems with canola oil feeding in newborn piglets, which result in the reduction in number of platelets and the alteration in their size. There is concern for similar effects in human infants. These undesirable effects can be reversed when coconut oil or other saturated fat is added to the feeding regimen.

Coconut Oil In Formula Helps Baby Absorb Calcium
Research has shown that coconut oil is needed for good absorption of fat and calcium from infant formulas. The soy oil (47%) and palm olein (53%) formula gave 90.6% absorption of fat and 39% absorption of calcium, whereas the soy oil (60%) and coconut oil (40%) gave 95.2% absorption of fat and 48.4% absorption of calcium. Both fat and calcium are needed by the infant for proper growth. These results clearly show the folly of removing or lowering the coconut oil in infant formulas.

Coconut Oil Enhances the Immune System and Metabolic Function

Coconut oil appears to help the immune system response in a beneficial manner. Feeding coconut oil in the diet completely abolished the expected immune factor responses to endotoxin that were seen with corn oil feeding. A study from the same research group showed that omega-6 oil enhanced inflammatory stimuli, but that coconut oil, along with fish oil and olive oil, suppressed the production of the inflammation.

Several recent studies are showing additional helpful effects of consuming coconut oil on a regular basis, thus supplying the body with the lauric acid derivative monolaurin. Monolaurin has been shown to have the potential for damping adverse reactions to toxic forms of glutamic acid.

In 1995 researchers showed that a diet rich in coconut oil could protect animals against the renal necrosis and renal failure (produced by a diet deficient in choline).The animals had less or no mortality and increased survival time,as well as decreased incidence or severity of the renal lesions,when 20% coconut oil was added to the deficient diet. A mixture of hydrogenated vegetable oil and corn oil did not show the same benefits.

The immune system is complex and has many feedback mechanism to protect it, but the wrong fat and oils can compromise these important mechanisms. The data from the several studies show the helpful effects of coconut fat. There have also been a good number of anecdotal reports that consumption of coconut is beneficial for individuals with the chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome known as CFIDS.

The unique properties of coconut oil have spurred the fats and oils industry to spend untold millions to formulate replacements from those seed oils so widely grown in the world outside the tropics. While it has been impossible to truly duplicate coconut oil for some of its applications, many food manufacturers have been willing to settle for lesser quality in their products. Consumers should no longer feel willing to settle for lesser quality oil, in part because they have been fed so much misinformation about fats and oils.

The extraction of oil from fresh coconuts is one of the most desirable sources of minimally processed oil and luckily, more and more niche markets for coconut products are developing. Creamed coconut, which is desiccated coconut very finely ground, can be used as a nut butter. There are even a few new coconut butters produced in the U.S. and Canada by Omega Nutrition and Carotec, Inc. Desiccated coconut products, coconut milk, and coconut oil are appearing on the shelves of more and more grocery markets and health food stores - so it should be relatively easy to pick up some up and start using it in your kitchen!