Disadvantages of Coconut Oil

By Laura Ng

Have you come across the disadvantages of coconut oil besides its health benefits?

Coconut oil does have its disadvantages despite its healthful characteristics. Let's go over them one by one and see how we can turn each disadvantage in your favor so you can minimize its negative effect and maximize its health benefits on you.

Disadvantage #1 — No Effect on "Cold"

The medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in coconut oil can kill many types of viruses, including influenza virus that causes flu. But they're helpless against the rhinovirus that triggers common cold. In fact, no medications or herbal remedies can fight against rhinovirus, except your body immune system.

However, when you're down with cold, the infection could leave your immune system vulnerable to invasion by more bacteria, germs and viruses. That's where MCFAs in coconut oil come into play.

MCFAs help you kill those harmful microorganisms and ease the burden off your immune system so that it can focus on fighting the cold virus effectively. So it's still important to eat coconut oil when cold attacks you.

Disadvantage #2 — Excessive Coconut Oil May Harm

Just because everyone says coconut oil is healthy doesn't mean you start scoffing a ton of it. Too much of a good thing may do you more harm than good. You could end up running diarrhea-like symptoms if your body is not used to such sudden change.

Go slow with 1 tablespoon first and gradually increase to 3 or 4 tablespoons a day. That'll keep you safe and sound while reaping the health benefits of coconut oil.

Disadvantage #3 — Flavor Sucks!

Most people love its aromatic flavor. However, like durian, some people may not like it. So, if the original smell or taste of coconut oil just doesn't appeal to you, fret not, you still have 2 options.

Mix it into the food or beverage containing strong flavor which will well cover the health-promoting virgin coconut oil's original scent.
Use RBD (refined, bleached and deodorized) coconut oil where it possesses very light or no smell of coconut oil. But make sure you get the pure RBD oil type without hydrogenation or its trans fatty acid content (hydrogenation can produce trans fatty acid) may cause irreversible damage to your health.

Disadvantage #4 — Turn Snowy Easily

If you live in a region where its temperature usually stays below 76 °F (24 °C), you'll face an issue with coconut oil because it turns snowy easily below that temperature. The only way for you to get around this is warm the oil to above 76 °F every time you need to use it for say, applying to your skin as moisturizer or as a dip or spread for bread. Kind of troublesome.

But if you're using it for cooking or stir-frying, you can simply dump the snowy-look oil in the pan and the heat will soon turn it back into its usable state.

Disadvantage #5 — Cause "Acne Breakout"

Numerous people have used coconut oil to successfully clear their acne-prone face and help them close up the pores to make the skin smoother and flawless. But few people do get an even worse acne breakout condition with coconut oil. Why?

The anti-toxin properties in coconut oil are so powerful that they purge out layers of toxin deep from underneath your skin, so it may appear to you that you're getting worse from using coconut oil, which in fact is a healing crisis — you get worse before you get better.

If you can hold on to the breakout for up to few weeks (depending on how much toxin you've built up beneath your skin), you should be able to reap the rewards of better skin thereafter (read Coconut Oil for Acne for more details).

Are you put off by these disadvantages of coconut oil? Better not or you're losing big-time for not using coconut oil for both your skin and health benefits. Anyway, I've provided tips to help you get around with the shortcomings and inconvenience easily, so it shouldn't deter you from pursuing excellent health with one of the most powerful foods on earth — coconut oil. Last but not least, use virgin coconut oil for best healing effect.