Coconut oil - health or hype?
- nutrinosh
- Feb 15, 2016
- 2 min read
Now a day it’s probably pretty commonplace to see a jar of coconut oil not only in your kitchen but in your bathroom cabinet too. A simple Google search looking into the health benefits of coconut oil un-surfaces a whole host of reported health benefits – but does the evidence behind these reports really stack up? A ‘superfood’, an effective treatment for stretch marks and frizzy hair, a moisturiser, a medicinal agent that ‘cures’ cold sores, boosts immune function, staves off Alzheimer’s, has antibacterial properties, speeds up your metabolism and controls blood sugar levels… It would appear that coconut oil really is a ‘miracle food’ with limitless uses... but is it?
2 significant risk factors for developing heart disease, are: being overweight and having high cholesterol so we thought we would look into the reported heart health benefits of coconut oil.
Cholesterol?
Coconut oil is about 86 per cent saturated fat (mainly as lauric and myristic acid) and although recent evidence has suggested that saturated fats are not the heart-clogging nasties they were once thought to be, it would take a huge leap of faith to declare that they are good for you.
Heart UK explains how just two tablespoons of coconut oil provides 24g of saturated fat, which exceeds the government’s recommended maximum intake of saturated fat for women (20g). A man’s recommended maximum intake is 30g.
There is however a substantial amount of scientific evidence to show that poly-unsaturated fats (vegetable-based oils and spreads) and mono-unsaturated fats (such as olive oil or rapeseed oil) help to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
Weight Loss?
Coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which are absorbed from the small intestine straight into the liver. It has been claimed that the body burns off these MCT calories more quickly than it would calories from other fat sources. Indeed a study published in 2003 seemed to confirm this when it found that coconut oil could help overweight men to burn more calories and lose weight. It’s important to note though, that coconut oil is calorie-dense (offering nine calories per gram) so the amount you could realistically consume would have a minimal effect on energy balance or weight loss.
When sifting through the evidence of the benefits of coconut oil it becomes clear – firstly, most of the benefits have been shown in animal studies but not proven in humans, secondly, most human studies that have been conducted have had few subjects and conducted over a short time period. Furthermore, claims have been interpreted from research done on MCTs (not actually coconut oil).
Our verdict?
Ultimately, it’s sketchy and there’s not enough high quality evidence to provide us with a definitive answer. So we’d suggest using coconut oil sparingly and use an unsaturated fat as an everyday choice instead to be more heart healthy.
Commentaires