Coconut oil - health food or bad fat?

by Dr Joanna McMillan
in nutrition products
20 May 2009 | 4 Comments

Coconut oil is high in saturated fat and this has left it on the "bad fats" to avoid list for too long. The thing is that there are many different saturated fats and not all of them raise cholesterol or do us any harm. Coconut oil is high in medium chain triglycerides - MCTs for short - and not only do these not raise cholesterol they tend to burned off far easier than other fats. In fact MCTs were popular at one time as a supplement for athletes looking to prolong performance. While that didn't quite work there is evidence that we are more likely to use these fats for fuel than for them to end up on our waistline. The other thing about coconut oil is that it has a high smoke point and this makes it stable for cooking at high heat. Flaxseed oil may be fabuously healthy but cook with it and you have destroyed the oil. You need to use the right oil for the right application. My vote is for coconut oil to be recognised as a healthy cooking fat with it's rightful place in the pantry. To boot it tastes delicious and the smell as you start to cook is fabulous - great for stir fries and curries.

Comments (4)

Does coconut oil only work for people that are busy with sports or can it be beneficial to people that are on a diet as well?Very interesting post. Thanks.

11 Jan 2010, Health Guy, http://www.evergreen.ie

Hello Dr. Price! "...The thing is that there are many different saturated fats..."

- Absolutely true and key!

Many people simply have no idea that there is more than one type of saturated fat. Yes, coconut oil is predominantly medium chain fatty acids (MCFA).

MCFAs are very different from long chain fatty acids (LCFA) commonly found in virtually all other fats and oils. Their absorption, transport, metabolism and uses are completely unlike each other. Just my two cents.

Cheers,

Frederick

http://www.coconut-oil-central.com

Your Drugstore in a Bottle

16 Sep 2009, CoconutOilGuy, http://www.coconut-oil-central.com

The cholesterol story for coconut oil is complex. Two of the fatty acids in coconut oil, lauric and myristic, in some circumstances, generate LDL cholesterol. Many studies on LDL have been done using these two acids to induce an increase of LDL in the blood of humans and of laboratory animals.

However, when coconut oil is consumed in a diet that also contains adequate omega 3 and omega 6 oils the boost to LDL is moderated. This is the explanation behind the healthy hearts of Polynesians, Melanesians, Indonesians, and the rest, who have fish and poultry in a diet that has traditionally also been high in coconut oil.

Health professionals have been bombarded with anti-coconut messages by the marketers of soy in particular and because of the truth that coconut oil in the absence of the essential omega 3 and 6 does raise LDL it is very difficult to persuade those professionals that coconut is OK.

24 May 2009, Mike Foale, www.cocosplit.com

That's interesting in terms of athletic performance! Similarly, I heard that champion races horses prefer and benefit from a coconut (copra) meal diet whilst cattle on copra meal tend to increase metabolism and lose weight......makes you wonder!

23 May 2009, Paul Richardson, www.cocotap.com

Coconut oil - health food or bad fat?

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