For the past few years, coconut oil has been touted as one of the superfoods to be used in most of your cooking needs. It has become the oil of choice for many Paleo diets, making it fashionable among the health conscious trendy set.
After all, coconut oil is loaded with vitamin E. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps removes free radicals and toxins from the body. It’s known to help with eye disorders such as cataracts, premenstrual syndrome, neurological diseases, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, to name just a few.
Coconut oil also contains:
Lauric acid which is supposed to help fight infections and is good for the skin.
Caprylic, a fatty acid that works as an anti-fungal agent.
Proteins which are considered good for the body.
What many like is that coconut oil is also somewhat affordable.
Coconut oil has a pleasant aroma that can fill a room with a wonderful fragrance.
Lastly, coconut oil is tropical and helps with the trendy image of being health conscious. So why wouldn’t anyone want to rush right out and buy some coconut oil and become a trendy, fashionable health conscious person?
I did! I was using extra-virgin olive oil, but after hearing a number of reports on the wonderful benefits of coconut oil, I went out and bought a couple jars of coconut oil, believing I was being healthier.
However, coconut oil is a saturated fat. Yes, it’s been touted as being a ‘good’ saturated fat and better for you than other saturated fats like butter and beef fat (lard), so, is it the superfood it’s supposed to be? In fact, coconut oil contains more saturated fat (82%) than butter (63%) and beef fat (50%) and pork lard (39%).
Not according to a new report that says that coconut oil is best put on your body but not in your body.
The American Heart Association has issued a warning about using coconut oil. In fact, they have recommended NOT using coconut oil for cooking or eating. They based their recommendation on seven studies using coconut oil. In all seven trials, using coconut oil actually raised the levels of LDL, also known as bad cholesterol. LDL is the stuff that clogs arteries and causes heart attacks and/or leads to heart by-pass surgeries.
Dr. Frank Sachs, the lead author of the AHA report on coconut oil, stated:
“We want to set the record straight on why well-conducted scientific research overwhelmingly supports limiting saturated fat in the diet to prevent diseases of the heart and blood vessels.”
Sachs and others recommend using olive or sunflower oils and spreads. Switching from coconut oil to olive or sunflower oil has been shown to lower LDL by nearly the same magnitude as some cholesterol-lowering medications.
However, Sachs did not say to stop using coconut oil or to throw out the coconut oil you have setting on your shelf. He did say:
“You can put it on your body, but don’t put it in your body.”