The meat of the coconut yields an oil that is has important healing properties.
Coconut oil is a delicious food that is also a medicine. For a long time, it was thought that because coconut oil is mostly saturated fat, it could not be healthful. But now the health benefits of coconut oil are well-known, and people who are concerned about healthy diet can consume it freely. It has a unique composition unlike any other fat, and these components give coconut oil its special healing properties.
The Saturated Fat Question
Coconut oil is 92 percent saturated fat. In the 1950s and 1960s, a nutritionist named Ancel Keys postulated that saturated fat was a cause of coronary artery disease. He convinced a lot of people that saturated fats such as coconut oil and palm oil were as unhealthy as animal fat. These studies have been called into question recently by scientists such as Gary Taubes. Now many nutrition experts are saying that the human body actually prefers saturated fat as its most efficient fuel. Many coconut oil enthusiasts claim that the saturated fat in coconut oil helped them to lose weight. Mary Enig says that eating natural coconut oil also improves cholesterol numbers.
Medium-Chain Triglycerides
Among the saturated fats that make up coconut oil is one special kind of fat called medium-chain triglycerides. Medium-chain fatty acids bond to each other in threes, forming medium-chain triglycerides. 62 percent of the fat in coconut oil is made up of these special fatty acids. Coconut oil, in fact, is one of the world's richest sources of medium-chain triglycerides, which are much easier to digest than long-chain triglycerides. They go straight from the intestine to the portal vein, and then to the liver, where they are burned as fuel. Human breast milk contains MCFAs, as does infant formula. People who have difficulty digesting other sorts of fats do well on MCFAs such as the ones found in coconut oil.
Lauric Acid
One of the medium-chain triglycerides in coconut oil is lauric acid. Lauric acid is a powerful anti-microbial agent. The body can change lauric acid into monolaurin, which is similarly powerful against viruses and bacteria. Lauric acid is found in human breast milk and in the milk of cows and goats, but it is much more abundant in coconut oil. The presence of lauric acid, which makes up 45 to 50 percent of the MCFAs in coconut oil, is one of the main reasons that coconut oil is so healing to the body.
Caproic, Caprylic, and Capric Acid
Coconut oil also contains caproic acid, caprylic acid, and capric acid. These are thought to also have some anti-bacterial properties, and they may work synergistically with the lauric acid in coconut oil. Caprylic acid is also found in the milk of some mammals, but it is present in a higher concentration in coconut oil.
Tags: lauric acid, that saturated, breast milk, coconut special, fatty acids