An article was published May 20, 2003 in Women's World Magazine titled "The New Thyroid Cure: The Two Miracle Foods that Will—Jumpstart Your Sluggish Thyroid; Make Your Body Burn More Fuel; Triple Your Energy." This article created such a demand for coconut oil that by June there wasn't a jar of oil to be purchased anywhere in the U.S. Coconut oil is now available everywhere, but the demand has not stopped.
Coconut Oil Offers Numerous Health Benefits
There's a good reason requests for coconut oil have increased. It is helping thousands of people—not only helping them lose weight, but offering various other health benefits. Often someone starts taking coconut oil because they’ve heard it helped others lose weight. They have no idea of the health benefits that are in store. Sudden energy surges are one of the many positive effects people are reporting. Theresa shared her story recently of such a discovery.
Since starting the coconut oil this week, I've caught up on laundry, cleaned the whole house, garage . . . holy cow, what energy! Oh, and I got my period twelve days early. I’m taking this as a great sign that things that were not quire right internally are being adjusted.
Other benefits associated with coconut oil include ridding the body of microbial compounds (yeasts, fungus, parasites). This oil is rich in lauric acid, and capric, and caprylic acids, which have tremendous antiviral and antifungal properties. In the body, lauric acid converts into monolaurin, a compound that is adept in fighting viral pathogens. This is the same substance that is present in breast milk, which protects infants from viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections. The medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which are abundant in coconut oil, have notable anti-fungal properties. Caprylic acid, a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA), is a very potent natural yeast-fighting agent. Capric acid has similar benefits when it is formed into monocaprin in the body. Monocaprin has been shown to have significant antiviral effects against microorganisms that cause sexually transmitted diseases.
Will Coconut Oil Raise My Cholesterol?
Coconut oil helps promote cardiovascular health. Serum triglycerides (generally composed of 14 to 28 carbon fatty acids) are what are found circulating in the blood stream. When these are elevated, there is cause for concern. Coconut oil is comprised of mostly medium chain triglycerides (8 to 10 carbon fatty acids), which are smaller than the serum triglycerides circulating in the blood. Because of their smaller molecular size and the greater solubility in water, the body metabolizes MCTs much differently than other, larger triglycerides.
Following rapid breakdown and absorption in the intestinal tract, MCTs are transported to the liver through a special part of the blood stream called portal circulation, which is designed to carry nutrients directly from the intestinal tract to the liver. There they enter the mitochondria (the energy-producing part of the cell) and are rapidly oxidized to ketones (mobile substances that are utilized as energy sources), which are almost immediately converted into energy. In summary, MCTs are not going to float around in the blood stream and build up in the arteries; they are going to be burned for energy quickly.
Coconut oil has been criticized for years because it is a saturated vegetable fat. Critics have associated coconut oil, as with all other saturated fats, with heart disease. Mary Enig, Ph.D., FACN, CNS has debunked this theory. She has written very persuasively that studies done in the 1950s, which formed the basis of the "bad fat" hypothesis were flawed. The original research failed to distinguish between different kinds of fat. Dr. Enig says, "This was a fundamental flaw that is obvious to us today, however, in earlier times, differentiating between different types of fats apparently was not thought to be important. The early research on which our dietary myths are now based, concluded all fat to be bad—saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated."