A Slice of Tropical Heaven

Filed under: General Health, Nutrition

After last week’s diversion from the norm, I am back at it again today with a fantastic food that is sure to stir up some controversy. Today I wanted to talk about the delicious, and incredibly healthy coconut oil. The organic extra-virgin variety. Just like with olive oil, or any oil for that matter, the processing makes a huge difference and we want it as unadulterated as possible. You could make that statement for all food, but that is another story for another day.

Some might argue that it is too high in saturated fat, blah blah blah. The fact of the matter is, there is little to no direct evidence showing a cause and effect relationship between saturated fat intake (especially a naturally formed, non-fried or damaged version) and heart disease, despite 30 years of science trying to prove it. Regardless, the saturated fat in coconuts is quite distinct, as it is made up of medium chain triglycerides. These MCT’s are quite unique as they are do not require bile to be digested (if you have had your gallbladder removed, you will appreciate this), they are more readily used for energy rather than stored as energy, and in coconut’s case, are made up of 44% lauric acid. This is significant because lauric acid is one hell of a fatty acid. Lauric acid is converted into monolaurin in the body and it is known to be antiviral and antimicrobial. There have been many studies demonstrating this effect, an example of one from Wikipedia:

“A laboratory study investigated the effect of monolaurin on primary and secondary skin infections compared with six common antibiotics.^[14] In culture isolates from the skin infections, monolaurin showed statistically significant broad-spectrum sensitivity to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial isolates, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp. and Enterobacter spp.”

Interestingly MCTs are used in the treatment of people suffering from cystic fibrosis, AIDS, cachexia and childhood epilepsy. Not only that, there are many Pacific Island populations who subsisted on a huge intake of coconut, their diets being anywhere from 35-60% of calories from fat (mostly saturated), they were found to be nearly completely free of atherosclerosis, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, etc. For more reading on that topic, I refer you again to the Whole Health Source blog. He covers it in great detail.

Shredded unsweetened coconut is also a fantastic food, high in MCTs, fiber, potassium and more, so eat your coconut! Though some recommed many tablespoons per day, I think adding in 1-2 tbsp is more than sufficient. In conjunction with the extra virgin olive oil, fish oil, flax, nuts and the fat from animal sources, I think your fat intake will be taken care of.

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1. Danny Says:
   March 23rd, 2009 at 11:27 am

   perfect way to cook Jen Heath’s aforementioned pancake recipe…

2. Steph Says:
   March 24th, 2009 at 4:52 am

   Controversial coconut oil. I love it. Can you use it for tanning? I really need to work on mine.

   I’ll ask you my it might be stupid question in person.

   After yesterday’s conversation; I’d love to read a post about Ezekial products and their benefits. I had no idea they made wraps.

3. Nick Says:
   March 24th, 2009 at 9:33 am

   Hi mate could you please “dumb down” this bit for me, as i suffer alot from skin infections, which makes training hell alot of the time.

   “A laboratory study investigated the effect of monolaurin on primary and secondary skin infections compared with six common antibiotics.[14] In culture isolates from the skin infections, monolaurin showed statistically significant broad-spectrum sensitivity to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial isolates, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp. and Enterobacter spp.

   Thanks.

4. Deb Says:
   March 24th, 2009 at 10:38 am

   Hi Brian,

   I have cooked with coconut oil after reading a few articles on the health benefits. I had sort of slacked off from using it of late, so I am glad you brought it back to the forefront. Tomorrow’s omelette is getting the coconut oil treatment.

   Deb

5. schnupi Says:
   March 31st, 2009 at 8:07 am

   Here is a quick question.. I’ve been reading up alot about oils recently and my have gotten into a conversation with my mother who was talking about ghee..

   looking through a few results google showed up, ghee is similar in a way to coconut oil as it contains mainly sat fats. ghee seems to have been ignored for some time now by western society in some way but from my understanding it mostly contains short chain fatty acids and less than 10% is made up of long chain fatty acids..

   seems like a good option as well.. I am definitely a new fan of ev coconut and ghee looks rather similar, but i need to do a bit more reading

   any thoughts on ghee?

6. Brian St. Pierre Says:
   April 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm

   Schnupi,

   Ghee is fantastic. I would highly suggest you try it if you want. Just keep cals in check, with all of the great fat sources, it can be easy to get carried away!

7. Nicole Says:
   August 28th, 2009 at 9:26 am

   Can the same benefits be attributed to coconut milk?

8. Successful Says:
   February 17th, 2010 at 5:56 am

   thanks for sharing bro.. wery comfort a bloog… good luck http://www.otokiralamafirmalari.com/oto_kiralama.html

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