Coconut for Everything - Is this real?

We've got an addiction to oil in the world. Coconut oil. It's good for your hair, for your skin, for cooking, for mental health, for … FOR EVERYTHING. But is this real? Or just another fad.

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Is it just Facebook, Twitter and everyone I know or are people are actually coo-coo for coconut oil? In the 1980s, coconut oil was considered terrible cholesterol-causing junk. Yet in 2002, the New Statesman published, "People who eat coconut oil in place of other vegetable oils" are free of degenerative diseases, have a healthier BMI, and live longer. And there's a rumor it can even cure Alzheimers.

Lucky for us, science has spent some time looking into it. A coconut isn't a nut (or fruit, or seed), it's a drupe, like a peach or apricot. Coconuts on trees are fleshy bits, each containing a single brown pit or stone, which is what we call the coconut. Coconut oil is exactly what you think it is, a result of processing the white meat of a coconut, the endosperm, to extract its oil. There are a handful of ways people accomplish it, but they all end up drying, boiling, or pressing its flesh.

The change from the 1970s and 80s to today, is coconut oil production has gotten better. Virgin coconut oil wasn't available then, and instead it was a highly processed oil product. But is today's product really better? Processed coconut oil contains 92 percent saturated fat; butter is only 64 percent, and both beef and pure LARD are only 40 percent. Unlike animal fats, coconut oil doesn't contain cholesterol. Instead, it influences cholesterol in the body -- which is manufactured by the liver. Saturated fat causes inflammation in the blood vessels, so we should keep an eye on it because consuming a little coconut oil is going to have a large impact on saturated fat intake.

Coconut oil ALSO contains medium-chain triglycerides, or MCTs -- which are ALSO processed by the liver, the main MCT in coconut oil is called lauric acid, which is associated with increases in HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and is associated with decreased body fat, but it also raises LDL cholesterol (the bad kind which causes heart problems). According to Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, "overall effects on health can’t be predicted just by the changes in LDL and HDL." And there just hasn't been enough time to do long-term studies to figure out the true benefits or drawbacks of the oil.

In 2011 a molecular biologist from University of California Davis told the New York Times, "there is no concrete scientific data yet to support" the health benefits of coconut oil. So far this new coconut oil fad seems to be driven by hype more than actual information. People hear the media spout its health benefits and throw it on ALL their foods; but moderation is more important. Chances are too much is going to cause more harm than good. Sure, the HDL boost is nice, but both soybean and olive oils lower LDL and raise HDL; and there are other compounds in the dregs of this drupe which may affect the body in other, as yet unknown, ways.

With regard to Alzheimer's, coconut oil has no scientific evidence to support it, only a book written by a pediatrician about her husband's experience with Alzheimer's. What we DO know, is coconut oil works for baking as a substitute for butter, vegans have tested that for us, but while coconut oil might be better than the saturated fats in meats and butter, its benefits are not as proven as all-mighty olive oil.