In my most recent post, I talked about the weight loss benefits from eating more coconut and/or MCT oil (medium-chain triglycerides). If you missed that, you can find it at http://bradshealthtips.com/2010/12/11/for-weight-loss-during-the-holidays-eat-more-coconut-oil/. And in that post I promised to talk about the other health benefits from eating coconut oil. Since coconut oil is comprised of 60% MCTs, and MCT oil is made mostly from coconut oil, I strongly suspect that all the health benefits from eating coconut oil can reasonably be attributed to eating MCT oil also.
First, before I go into this in some detail, let me reinforce what most of us already know but very frequently forget: don’t use a broad brush when determining any food items are categorically good or bad. For example, we easily fall back into the mindset that all saturated fats are bad for us, and that’s definitely NOT the case. There are benefits and costs to eating just about everything, including coconut oil, even though it is comprised almost completely of saturated fats. Unlike most food items containing a high amount of saturated fat, the health benefits of us consuming coconut oil, for the vast majority of us, FAR outweigh any negative impacts to our health. And I suspect that coconut oil will soon be talked about as one of the more amazing “super foods”, and here’s why:
- I talked in my last post that coconut oil is fairly unique as a fat in that it’s digestion doesn’t involve the pancreas. It goes directly from the intestine to the liver where it is immediately converted into energy, unlike carbs which are mostly stored as fat for later use. Coconut oil provides you energy without any spike in your insulin level, unlike eating carbs. Therefore it helps fight diabetes!
- Coconut oil boosts your metabolism, which should cause you to lose weight. Farmers found this out back in the ’40′s when they tried feeding coconut oil to the livestock to fatten them up. It had the opposite effect!! Same thing happens in humans.
- Coconut oil is easily digested, so it can be an especially important addition to the diet of anyone whose digestive system is challenged, such as infants and the elderly. As a matter of fact, all commercially produced infant formula in the US has coconut oil in it, for this reason and the next one.
- It fights certain viruses and bacteria. The fatty acids in coconut oil are comprised of 50% lauric acid which Dr. Joseph Mercola considers a “miracle” ingredient because of its healthful properties. And he claims that coconut oil has the highest content of lauric acid of any food on the planet.
- Dr. Mercola also claims that coconut oil will help support your thyroid function, which I pointed out in one of my first series of posts is one of the best things you can do to improve your overall health. See his article on it at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/11/08/thyroid-health-part-two.aspx
- And if these benefits aren’t enough, very recent evidence is showing that consuming coconut oil can actually help REVERSE dementia and Alzheimer’s!! Here’s a link to a very recent article Dr. Mercola did on this topic: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/13/can-this-natural-food-cure-or-prevent-alzheimers.aspx
My post of Dec. 11 on coconut oil had two links at the bottom where you can buy MCT oil from sources I have confidence in. I add MCT oil to my breakfast and take a second tablespoon straight mid-afternoon, as it has almost NO taste. My wife and I now cook exclusively with coconut oil (do NOT cook with MCT oil, as it’s not designed to be heated) and only use olive oil for salads.
If you want more info on coconut oil, go to Dr. Mercola’s Web site (www.drmercola.com) and search on coconut oil. You’ll quickly see that he’s been singing it’s praise for at least the last 10 years. I think it’s time we listen to him!
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