Benefits Of Coconut Oil
Like everyone else I used to believe that coconut oil was an artery clogging saturated fat. What started me thinking differently came to me in a series of different research. It all started when I needed moisture. My scalp was dry, my skin was dry and it made no sense using lotions with perfume or alcohol. I tried all the Dermatologist recommended lotions and moisturizers and even though did help temporally, it was just temporary. In the mix of discovering how good coconut oil is for your skin and hair, I also learned it is good for pretty much EVERYTHING. I learned that coconut oil was one of the good fats, that it didn't cause heart disease, and that it had many health benefits. At first I was shocked. This went against everything I'd heard in the past. There are many studies that show that coconut oil had many important nutritional and medical uses. I learned that coconut oil, in one form or another, was used in hospital parenteral formulas to nourish seriously ill patients. It was an important ingredient in infant formulas and was recommend for people with digestive or nutritional problems. I began to wonder; if coconut oil is so bad, why is it fed to hospital patients and newborn babies and recommended for those with digestive concerns?
Coconut oil, in one form or another, was used in hospital and baby formulas and why it was recommended for those with digestive problems. I discovered it had many important nutritional and medical applications. I also learned that there was no truth in the belief that coconut oil causes or even contributes to heart disease. In fact, I learned that if you want to protect yourself from heart disease you should be using coconut oil.
One of my goals is to tell everyone who will listen about the coconut oil miracle. Most people are still in the dark about it. If you go to the average person on the street and ask them about coconut oil, they knew very little, including health care professionals, doctors, nutritionists; they really don't know much because they haven't studied it. Most of the education doctors receive after graduating from medical school is provided by the pharmaceutical industry and, therefore, is very biased. They don't hear about natural, nutritional approaches. Sometimes doctors have to be educated by their patients.
why as a nation have we stopped using coconut oil? Does the promotion of polyunsaturated soybean oil produced by American farmers play a role in this?
~~ Oh yes. And this is something that people need to know about. The reason people think of heart disease when anyone mentions coconut oil doesn't have anything to do with science, and doesn't have anything t do the fact, but has everything to do with marketing and money. Back it the early and mid-1980s, people were concerned that saturated fats could raise cholesterol levels. The soybean industry realized this was a perfect opportunity to make a profit. They reasoned that if they could convince people that all saturated fats were bad and caused heart disease people would eat more vegetable oil. So the soybean industry spent millions in an anti-saturated fat and anti-tropical oils publicity campaign. Special interest groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest joined in and started producing alarming news stories about he dangers of saturated fats. They invented the term "artery clogging fat" in reference to coconut oil. Because of the media blitz it didn't take long before everyone believed coconut oil was an artery clogging fat. People are still duped by the soybean industry's attack on coconut oil.
I use coconut oil all the time and in every imaginable way. We use it in all of our cooking and our baking. I use it anytime a recipe calls for oil. I do still is Olive Oil but all other oils are replaced with coconut oil. I use it for frying eggs, pancakes, stir fry. Honestly any time I need to fry anything. I use it in cakes, brownies, waffles instead of vegetable or canola oil. I use it as a moisturizer after the shower or anytime I need a little moisture. I use it under my eyes to help with wrinkles. As a shaving cream and for moisture after shaving (talk about smooth legs). At night I put it on my dry hair, comb it through, sleep with a towel on your pillow and shampoo it out it the a.m for absolutely amazing healthy hair (you will notice a huge difference after the first time). I use it for deodorant, you can make deodorant (recipe here) or if you shower at night just rub a little under your arms before bed. It works great as an anti acid and helps with digestive problems. I have so many uses for it, I have included a list with 52 things you can do with coconut oil.
At times I use coconut oil as a supplement and take it by the spoonful. The type I use tastes delicious so I don't mind taking by the spoon. I also add it to a bowl of oatmeal.
How is it that not all saturated fats are unhealthy? About medium-chain fatty acids.
Fats and oils are composed of molecules called fatty acids. Three fatty acids joined together form a triglyceride molecule. Some fatty acids are smaller than others. Medium-chain fatty acids are smaller than long-chain fatty acids. Likewise medium-chain triglycerides are smaller than long-chain triglycerides. The size of these molecules is very important because our bodies process and metabolize each fat differently depending on its size. Most all of the fats and oils in our diet are composed of long-chain fatty acids, whether they're unsaturated or saturated. There are only a few dietary sources of medium-chain fatty acids, the primary source being tropical oils, particularly palm kernel and coconut oils. That's why coconut oil is different from other oils and it the secret to many of its healing properties.
Because the medium-chain triglycerides are smaller than the long-chain triglycerides that are in most fats and oils, they're digested quicker. In fact, they don't even need pancreatic digestive enzymes to break them down. By the time they enter the intestinal tract, they are completely broken down into free fatty acids, while long-chain triglycerides still need the digestive enzymes to break them down. What's important here is that the long-chain fatty acids, when they're finally broken down, will be absorbed through the intestinal wall. From there, they are packaged into lipoproteins and released into the bloodstream. So the long-chain fatty acids go into the digestive tract and then into the bloodstream. As they circulate in the bloodstream they supply the fat that collects in fat cells and the fat that collects in artery walls.
With medium-chain fatty triglycerides in coconut oil the process is different. They are quickly digested, so pancreatic enzymes are not needed. By the time they enter the intestinal tract they are completely broken down into fatty acids. Because of this, they are absorbed immediately into the portal vein, and sent directly to the liver. In the liver they are used as a source of fuel to produce energy. Therefore, they bypass the lipoprotein stage, and they don't circulate in the bloodstream to the degree that other fats do. Consequently, they do not supply the fat that collects in fat cells or the fat that collects in artery walls. They produce energy not body fat and not arterial plaque.
There is evidence that coconut oil helps prevent osteoporosis. One of the interesting things about coconut oil is that it helps improves nutrient absorption. It improves absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium and thus aid in preventing osteoporosis. Also, it increases absorption of some of the B vitamins, the fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, K, beta-carotene, and some amino acids. Because of it is easily digested, provides a quick and easy source of nutrition, and improves absorption of other nutrients coconut oil has been recommended in the treatment of malnutrition.
Coconut oil has many other uses. Research has shown it can be useful in the treatment and prevention of obesity. A lot of research is current being done in this area. Studies show it may be helpful in preventing liver disease, kidney disease, Crohn's disease, cancer and many infectious illnesses such as the flu, herpes, bladder infections, and candida, to mention just a few. Studies are now being done to test it effectiveness against serious illness such as AIDS and SARS. Preliminary results have been very promising.
Recently it has been written in depth about chronic fatigue syndrome. How can coconut oil help with this debilitating and often misunderstood illness?
~~ It helps in a couple of ways. One way it helps is due to its antimicrobial effects, it can destroy organisms in the body that may be sapping the body's strength and contributing to the condition. Another way is that because the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are used by the body to produce energy rather than body fat, it produces a surge in energy. With those two combined, it can be of benefit.
Research information comes from:
The Doctor's Prescription for Healthy Living, Freedom Press, Inc, 1013 Centre Road #301, Wilmington, DE 19805.
Thank you for all your hard work promoting better health education.
Coconut oil, in one form or another, was used in hospital and baby formulas and why it was recommended for those with digestive problems. I discovered it had many important nutritional and medical applications. I also learned that there was no truth in the belief that coconut oil causes or even contributes to heart disease. In fact, I learned that if you want to protect yourself from heart disease you should be using coconut oil.
One of my goals is to tell everyone who will listen about the coconut oil miracle. Most people are still in the dark about it. If you go to the average person on the street and ask them about coconut oil, they knew very little, including health care professionals, doctors, nutritionists; they really don't know much because they haven't studied it. Most of the education doctors receive after graduating from medical school is provided by the pharmaceutical industry and, therefore, is very biased. They don't hear about natural, nutritional approaches. Sometimes doctors have to be educated by their patients.
why as a nation have we stopped using coconut oil? Does the promotion of polyunsaturated soybean oil produced by American farmers play a role in this?
~~ Oh yes. And this is something that people need to know about. The reason people think of heart disease when anyone mentions coconut oil doesn't have anything to do with science, and doesn't have anything t do the fact, but has everything to do with marketing and money. Back it the early and mid-1980s, people were concerned that saturated fats could raise cholesterol levels. The soybean industry realized this was a perfect opportunity to make a profit. They reasoned that if they could convince people that all saturated fats were bad and caused heart disease people would eat more vegetable oil. So the soybean industry spent millions in an anti-saturated fat and anti-tropical oils publicity campaign. Special interest groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest joined in and started producing alarming news stories about he dangers of saturated fats. They invented the term "artery clogging fat" in reference to coconut oil. Because of the media blitz it didn't take long before everyone believed coconut oil was an artery clogging fat. People are still duped by the soybean industry's attack on coconut oil.
I use coconut oil all the time and in every imaginable way. We use it in all of our cooking and our baking. I use it anytime a recipe calls for oil. I do still is Olive Oil but all other oils are replaced with coconut oil. I use it for frying eggs, pancakes, stir fry. Honestly any time I need to fry anything. I use it in cakes, brownies, waffles instead of vegetable or canola oil. I use it as a moisturizer after the shower or anytime I need a little moisture. I use it under my eyes to help with wrinkles. As a shaving cream and for moisture after shaving (talk about smooth legs). At night I put it on my dry hair, comb it through, sleep with a towel on your pillow and shampoo it out it the a.m for absolutely amazing healthy hair (you will notice a huge difference after the first time). I use it for deodorant, you can make deodorant (recipe here) or if you shower at night just rub a little under your arms before bed. It works great as an anti acid and helps with digestive problems. I have so many uses for it, I have included a list with 52 things you can do with coconut oil.
At times I use coconut oil as a supplement and take it by the spoonful. The type I use tastes delicious so I don't mind taking by the spoon. I also add it to a bowl of oatmeal.
How is it that not all saturated fats are unhealthy? About medium-chain fatty acids.
Fats and oils are composed of molecules called fatty acids. Three fatty acids joined together form a triglyceride molecule. Some fatty acids are smaller than others. Medium-chain fatty acids are smaller than long-chain fatty acids. Likewise medium-chain triglycerides are smaller than long-chain triglycerides. The size of these molecules is very important because our bodies process and metabolize each fat differently depending on its size. Most all of the fats and oils in our diet are composed of long-chain fatty acids, whether they're unsaturated or saturated. There are only a few dietary sources of medium-chain fatty acids, the primary source being tropical oils, particularly palm kernel and coconut oils. That's why coconut oil is different from other oils and it the secret to many of its healing properties.
Because the medium-chain triglycerides are smaller than the long-chain triglycerides that are in most fats and oils, they're digested quicker. In fact, they don't even need pancreatic digestive enzymes to break them down. By the time they enter the intestinal tract, they are completely broken down into free fatty acids, while long-chain triglycerides still need the digestive enzymes to break them down. What's important here is that the long-chain fatty acids, when they're finally broken down, will be absorbed through the intestinal wall. From there, they are packaged into lipoproteins and released into the bloodstream. So the long-chain fatty acids go into the digestive tract and then into the bloodstream. As they circulate in the bloodstream they supply the fat that collects in fat cells and the fat that collects in artery walls.
With medium-chain fatty triglycerides in coconut oil the process is different. They are quickly digested, so pancreatic enzymes are not needed. By the time they enter the intestinal tract they are completely broken down into fatty acids. Because of this, they are absorbed immediately into the portal vein, and sent directly to the liver. In the liver they are used as a source of fuel to produce energy. Therefore, they bypass the lipoprotein stage, and they don't circulate in the bloodstream to the degree that other fats do. Consequently, they do not supply the fat that collects in fat cells or the fat that collects in artery walls. They produce energy not body fat and not arterial plaque.
There is evidence that coconut oil helps prevent osteoporosis. One of the interesting things about coconut oil is that it helps improves nutrient absorption. It improves absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium and thus aid in preventing osteoporosis. Also, it increases absorption of some of the B vitamins, the fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, K, beta-carotene, and some amino acids. Because of it is easily digested, provides a quick and easy source of nutrition, and improves absorption of other nutrients coconut oil has been recommended in the treatment of malnutrition.
Coconut oil has many other uses. Research has shown it can be useful in the treatment and prevention of obesity. A lot of research is current being done in this area. Studies show it may be helpful in preventing liver disease, kidney disease, Crohn's disease, cancer and many infectious illnesses such as the flu, herpes, bladder infections, and candida, to mention just a few. Studies are now being done to test it effectiveness against serious illness such as AIDS and SARS. Preliminary results have been very promising.
Recently it has been written in depth about chronic fatigue syndrome. How can coconut oil help with this debilitating and often misunderstood illness?
~~ It helps in a couple of ways. One way it helps is due to its antimicrobial effects, it can destroy organisms in the body that may be sapping the body's strength and contributing to the condition. Another way is that because the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are used by the body to produce energy rather than body fat, it produces a surge in energy. With those two combined, it can be of benefit.
Research information comes from:
The Doctor's Prescription for Healthy Living, Freedom Press, Inc, 1013 Centre Road #301, Wilmington, DE 19805.
Thank you for all your hard work promoting better health education.