Natural HealthCoconut Oil's Health Benefits
By Laura Ng
Coconut oil benefits our health in many ways. However, few ever realize this fact and majority still treat coconut oil as a foe to our health. Why?
Over the years, many people (including doctors, nutritionists, dietitians and other medical professionals) from all over the world debunk coconut oil's health benefits by spreading that it may increase your cholesterol level, elevate your risk of heart disease and make you gain weight. All because of one thing — its high saturated fat content.
They actually believe the saturated fat in coconut oil to be the same as that in animal fat and other vegetable oils. It's NOT!
Coconut Oil Exclaims, "I AM INNOCENT!"
It's time to dispel such misinformation and unfold the truth, and play fair to coconut oil — "she" is innocent! 
Coconut oil provides more health benefits than anyone can imagine.
Check out the people of traditional cultures, such as the South Pacific Islands, Asia, Africa and the Central America where coconut and palm oils are plentiful. For many generations, they add significant amounts of coconut oil in their traditional coconut-based diets but suffer very much lower rates of obesity and health problems than those in North America and Europe who don't eat coconut-based food at all. Why?
Look at our society today — we shun coconut oil but we heap our plates with food equally high in carbohydrates and polyunsaturated oils, which are supposed to be healthier choices.
But our so-called healthier low-fat diets (i.e. diets low in saturated fat) actually increase our risk to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and arthritis instead of lowering them. And we continue to complain about our overweight problem and poor health. What a shame! What went wrong here?
Think about this: If coconut oil carries no health benefits, then why are the people inhabiting the islands of the South Pacific (who include coconut oil as a staple in their diets) so much healthier than us?
Much credit goes to the American soybean industries that feel the increasing threat from the import of tropical oil. If people get to know the health benefits of coconut oil, their soybean oil would have no place to stand. So, they set out to create the negative publicity about coconut oil, roping in some authoritative but misguided health groups to discredit coconut oil's immense health benefits for the people.
Those despicable 'soybean' baddies and stupid health groups! 
In actual fact, coconut oil possesses incredible healing benefits and properties against many common illnesses and "modern" diseases.
How Coconut Oil Benefits Your Health
For thousands of years, both Ayurvedic and Indian folkloric medicine use coconut oil as a traditional remedy for almost all illnesses.
Gradually, modern medical science discovers that coconut oil can actually protect against heart disease (yes, contrary to what we're led to believe), diabetes, cancers, liver and kidney diseases, osteoporosis, dental decay and skin infections. It also relieves symptoms associated with illnesses like pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis (difficulty in breathing and absorbing nutrients), chronic inflammation, prostate enlargement, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, stomach ulcers, constipation, psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis.
Coconut oil continues to "show off" its awesome health benefits and astonish doctors by its powerful ability to kill viruses (e.g. influenza — aka flu, hepatitis C, herpes, measles), bacteria (e.g. pneumonia, urinary tract infection), fungi and yeast (e.g. candida, ringworm, thrush), which are otherwise resistant to drugs and antibiotics.
Yes, as unbelievable as it sounds, right now some doctors are including coconut oil in their treatments against the world's most deadly incurable terminator — HIV / AIDS. The super antimicrobes in coconut oil can rip the HIV viruses apart and kill them on the spot.
According to a first clinical study on the effectiveness of coconut oil against HIV virus carried out in 2000 by Cornrado Dayrit, M.D., emeritus professor of pharmacology at the University of the Philippines and former president of the National Academy of Science and Technology in the Philippines, 9 out of 14 HIV patients after six months of treatment with using the antimicrobial acids found only in coconut oil had a decreased viral load (the number of viruses in the blood).
In 1996, an AIDS patient Chris Dafoe of Cloverdale, Indiana, having a HIV viral load of 600,000 copies — an indication of rampant HIV infection, after eating cooked coconut for breakfast every day, had his viral load plummeted all the way down to undetectable levels. Instead of dying soon he suddenly regained his life. Incredible!
You might wonder, if coconut oil or coconut-based food is so effective against HIV / AIDS, then why isn't it being widely used as treatment today?
It's the money issue again.
Because of coconut oil's low cost and ready availability worldwide, pharmaceutical companies won't be able to protect their coconut oil based drugs with a patent. Hence they can't charge exorbitantly and reap enormous profits. That's why they don't see the rewards in funding the research for the use of coconut oil in fighting HIV.
Perhaps you're still skeptical about the potential and health benefits of coconut oil until you understand the underlying mechanisms that make coconut oil almost so invincible.
Why Coconut Oil Benefits Your Health — What Makes It So Powerful?
The secret lies in its saturated fat structure and the size of the structure. Let me take you into the fat structure so that I can show you clearly why the unique fat in coconut oil can benefit your health so much. Sorry, it's gonna be somewhat technical, but I promise I'll keep it as simple as possible so that I won't bore you to death. 
Are you ready? Here we go.
All oils are essentially made up of 3 types of fatty acids:
Saturated Fat — consists of a chain of carbon atoms (denoted by 'C') fully attached with hydrogen atoms (denoted by 'H').'O' means oxygen atom.
Monounsaturated Fat — similar to saturated fat structure except for a missing pair of hydrogen atoms. The missing hydrogen pair will cause the 2 neighboring carbon atoms to bond with each other via a double bond. A single bond between carbon atoms is stronger than a double bond. Hence the double bonding between carbon atoms indicates its vulnerability to external attack and will readily react with free radicals (unstable atoms or molecules) that come into contact with it.
Polyunsaturated Fat — similar to monounsaturated fat except that it lacks 2 or more pairs of hydrogen atoms in the chain. 'Poly' means many. Since there could occur 2 or more double bonding, this type of fat is very unstable and thus, highly susceptible to oxidative damage.
Fully filled with hydrogen atoms, saturated fat (in coconut oil) remains very stable because it allows no space for other atoms to fit in. Even when you expose the oil to oxygen, heat or light, it doesn't encourage oxidation easily. Hence, formation of free radicals basically won't take place. As a result, it doesn't compromise coconut oil's health benefits.
Whereas the other two types of fat (especially polyunsaturated fat) are very prone to oxidation and free radicals formation at the exposure of heat, light and / or oxygen. Therefore, in terms of structure they are inferior to that of saturated fat.
If the oil (containing predominantly unsaturated fats) gets oxidized, its fundamental health benefits and properties will change totally even though it may still smell and taste seemingly normal. A good example of such oil is olive oil. When you consume oxidized oil, free radicals that finally enter your body will start to attack your healthy cells, leading to a chain reaction that creates more free radicals and cause degenerative damages to your organs and tissues, thus turning your normal body function completely upside down.
Inhaling of smoke particles from burning tobacco incites more free radicals generation. Thus, smokers and second-hand smokers who consume oxidized oil "gain" double risk in health damage.That's why people who consume oxidized polyunsaturated fat tend to develop cancer and degenerative diseases faster and more easily than those who do not or eat lesser.
But free radicals don't just enter our body through dietary channel. Free radicals appear everywhere in the environment. The more polluted the environment, the more free radicals there are, and the more you will inhale.
In other words, no way you can completely stop the assault by free radicals, but you can strengthen your resistance to their attacks by eating coconut oil which contains abundance of saturated fats (about 92%) acting as antioxidants.
That means your chances of developing cancers and degenerative diseases will become much slimmer with regular consumption of coconut oil.
Weight Loss Benefits of Coconut Oil — Eat Fat to Lose Fat
Did you know that the unsightly bouncy flab on your body comes partially from eating too much food containing large quantity of saturated fat?
Saturated fats from animal can easily add pounds to your weight because they're hard to break down and use as energy for your bodily functions and activities. Not to mention the additional toxins and chemical additives carried in meat promote free radicals activity.
But didn't I just say that saturated fat can protect you against cancers and degenerative diseases by hampering free-radical attack?
The problem is we're consuming too much animal fat, much more than what our body can handle, hence these excess fat start to deposit in areas where we don't want them to, contributing to the risks of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, high blood pressure and other heart related problems.
Sounds contradictory, huh? Saturated fat protects you yet it can also hurt you.
Confused not. This statement holds true only for saturated fat carried in animal fats but not in coconut oil because coconut saturated fat reacts differently in our body. Yes. It is this coconut oil that gives you the best of both worlds — not only its saturated structure can keep a high level of free radicals away from you, but it also benefits your health by promoting weight loss.
What? Eating fat can lose fat?
Amazing, right? Many people react the same way as you. Even I was shocked at this breaking news when I first heard it until I tried and witnessed the unbelievable results on myself. Here's how the saturated fat in coconut oil can help you lose fat.
Saturated fat comprises 3 different sizes of fatty acids.
Different sizes yield different health benefits and effects on your body. The saturated fat in both animal and most vegetable oils belong to the long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) group. Because of its greater length, your digestive system needs to produce more enzymes and work doubly hard to break down the long-chain fatty acids for bodily functions.
This low digestive efficiency can easily lead to LCFAs being ended up as fat deposits in your body. That explains why people consuming typical modern western diets (containing the common LCFAs) are accumulating larger and larger spare tires around their waists.
Overweight, if not obesity can result in a myriad of health problems like metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure, etc. For this reason, many nutritionists and dietitians emphasize on adopting a low saturated fat diet.
But little do they know that if you consume a high saturated fat diet consisting of the medium-chain fatty acids group, the health hazards would be reversed to health benefits, with almost zero adverse effect. Let me explain.
Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are also very easily digestible, like MCFAs. But the health advantages of MCFAs in coconut oil far outweighs that of SCFAs.That's why you only hear much about the healing power of MCFAs in coconut oil rather than the SCFAs although coconut oil does carry some amount of SCFAs too.
As opposed to LCFAs, MCFAs are smaller in size and thus require less effort and enzymes to break down.
Similarly to processing carbohydrates, your body will convert MCFAs directly and rapidly into energy for usage instead of circulating them in your bloodstream like other fats where they end up as body fat or land on artery walls.
In short, coconut oil will not be stored as fat.
What's even more wonderful is the energy converted from MCFA can stimulate your metabolism.
Why is this so important to weight loss? Because the ultimate success of weight loss is to be able to burn more calories than your calorie intake, continually in the long run. And the key to success is metabolism. You need to set your metabolism to burn calories at all times. Simply put, the more boost up your metabolism is, the more calories you can burn.
If you've been reading up on weight loss programs, you'll know that your metabolism is generally affected by 3 factors — your activity level, the amount of calories you ingest and the type of food you eat. In most cases, you need to interconnect these 3 factors in order to achieve optimal metabolism for effective weight loss.
Here's what I mean. By exercising regularly and maintaining your calorie intake on par with your activity level (i.e. no starvation diet), you're already stepping up your metabolic rate. Choosing to eat coconut oil will further elevate your metabolism due to abundant MCFAs (about 64%) in coconut oil.
MCFA creates a thermogenic (or calorie-burning) effect where it burns more calories at an accelerated rate to produce more heat, hence you'll get rid of unwanted fat faster than you expect. This thermogenic effect actually makes you feel warmer and more energetic for up to 24 hours!
Dr. Julian Whitaker, a well-known authority on nutrition and health says, "LCTs (long-chain triglycerides from animal fats and most vegetable oils) are like heavy wet logs that you put on a small campfire. Keep adding the logs, and soon you have more logs than fire. MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides from coconut oil) are like rolled-up newspaper soaked in gasoline. They not only burn brightly, but will burn up the wet logs as well" (Murray, 1996).
Once you've raised your metabolic rate without extra calorie intake, your body will start to burn whatever excess body fat you have into energy for use. That's how you can gradually lose those excess fat while feeling more energetic than before.
For best weight loss results, you should ingest more fruits, vegetables and plant-based foods (except for those that are usually processed and hydrogenated) because the more natural your diet is, the better will be your overall health and shape.No doubt coconut oil embraces excellent fat-burning characteristics, excessive intake per day may still result in fat deposits, though rare, particularly for those who eat fast without due care for their stomach's satiety level.
Losing unwanted fat is tantamount to reducing excess load off your body, thus strengthening your overall body health and keeping many illnesses and diseases associated with overweight at bay.
The best thing is, unlike fad diets, while maintaining your ideal weight and shape, coconut oil diet doesn't require you to go through starving or even keep a strong will just to lose weight.
You don't even have to stick to a fixed diet pattern. Just stick to a sensible, nutritious diet. But do remember to include coconut oil as a significant part of your diet. It'll all turn out naturally without you ever knowing the shedding of pounds off your body. Not forgetting its health benefits on you.
Another weight loss characteristic in coconut oil is due to the smaller size of its MCFAs which carry less calories (1 gram holds only 6.8 calories), thus making the total fat content only 8.62 calories per gram (all other fats hold 9.4 calories in one gram). It is as filling as other dietary fats but you wind up ingesting relatively lower calorie. In other words, you're less prone to becoming an obese with coconut oil.
Coconut oil may not give you a nice-looking v-shaped physique, but shedding ugly belly, buttocks and thighs fat shouldn't pose much problem.
It also helps to keep connective tissues in your skin strong and supple so that your skin doesn't sag and wrinkle as you shrink.
There you have it, a dietary fat that not only promotes health benefits but also promotes effective weight loss!
Don't take my word for it. Try coconut oil yourself. Give 3 months and the result will speak for itself.
Improve Your Health & Get In Shape with Nutiva's™ Cold Pressed, Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil (US / Canada Only)In The Coconut Oil Miracle, Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D. says, "Farmers are always looking for ways to fatten their livestock because bigger animals bring bigger profits. Fat and oils are used as an additive in animal feed to pack on weight in preparing them for market. Saturated fat seems like a good choice to fatten up livestock, so pig farmers tried to feed coconut products to their animals for this purpose, but when it was added to the animal feed, the pigs lost weight!
Farmers found that the high polyunsaturated oil content of corn and soybeans quickly did what the coconut oil couldn't. Animals fed corn and soybeans packed on pounds quickly and easily. The reason these oils worked so well is that their oils suppressed thyroid function, decreasing the animals' metabolic rate. They could eat less food and gain more weight! Many people are in similar situation. Every time we eat polyunsaturated oils, our thyroid gland is assaulted and loses its ability to function normally. Weight gain is one of the consequences."
Fast Repairing and Healing Benefits of Coconut Oil
When you get a cut, your body will do whatever it can to repair the broken tissues and cure it ASAP. Some people experience a week to get a simple cut healed while some take only 2 - 3 days. This has something to do with metabolism again.
High metabolism also strengthens your immune system.If your metabolism runs high, your cells perform more efficiently where old and damaged cells get replaced faster with young and new cells. In other words, you'll take less time to recover from any injuries.
That's why people who exercise a lot tend to recover faster from injuries than those who do not because they possess a higher metabolic rate.
Another way to increase your metabolism is to eat more coconut oil.
Many vegetable oils suppress thyroid hormone secretion, hence depressing metabolism. Coconut oil works otherwise. Thanks to its MCFAs again.
But I'm not encouraging you to rely solely on coconut oil to boost metabolism and speed up your body's healing ability. As I mentioned earlier the 3 factors to increase metabolism, I do highly recommend you to pick up some exercises to raise your activity level (and for long-term health benefits too), at the same time, consume a sensible coconut oil diet.
When used as a topical cream, coconut oil actually soothes and heals the irritated or affected areas on your skin caused by skin diseases such as psoriasis, hemorrhoids, warts and athlete's foot. It's also an effective healing salve against blisters and sunburns.
Natural Face-lift and Skin Care with Coconut Oil
Did you know that free radicals can make you look older than you really are (i.e. premature aging) by building "tracks" (wrinkles) on your face, "popping up" age spots on your skin and loosening your skin tissues to make your skin saggy?
Scary? What can you do to save your soft little skin and beautiful face and stop the renegades (free radicals) from wreaking havoc to your body?
As its name implies, antioxidant works like a neutralizer, warding off the oxidation of cells.The more antioxidants your cells and tissues carry, the better protection you have against free radicals.
ANTIOXIDANT.
Yes, only antioxidant can stop them.
Do the commercial creams and lotions you're using right now contain antioxidants? I can boldly say that they don't contain as much as what coconut oil provides. Instead, they compose mainly of water to help moisturize your dry and wrinkled skin. The moisturizing effect can be pretty deceiving as it makes you believe that it works to help soften your skin and reduce your wrinkles.
Let me tell you, the effect is at best temporary only. Here's the proof...
As water from commercial creams or lotions enters your skin, it expands the tissues, flattening out the wrinkles to make your skin look smoother. But this effect stays only short-term. As soon as the water evaporates or is carried away by the bloodstream, your dry, wrinkled skin returns. See? That's why you have to keep buying the expensive skin care products to sustain your skin smoothness.
In contrast, coconut oil softens your skin by penetrating deep into the layers to help heal the broken connective tissues caused by free-radical attack. It also aids in removing dead cells on the outer surface of your skin and promoting growth of new and healthier cells, making your skin smoother, enabling it to reflect light more evenly, creating a healthier, more youthful appearance. The skin shines because light reflects better off evenly textured skin.
I've even seen friends having blemishes and aging spots on their skin amazingly vanished into thin air after daily application and consumption.
It all thanks to the rich supply of antioxidant in coconut oil that comprises lauric acid plus other intrinsic phenolic compounds (such as protocatechuic, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, coumaric acid and ferulic acid) which may contribute to high antioxidant activity. Which means you can access to an abundant supply of antioxidants cheaply and easily since you can get coconut oil almost everywhere.
Virgin coconut oil doesn't clog your skin pores (i.e. it is non-comedogenic) yet helps to clear the toxic buildup in them. Refined coconut oil (except fractionated coconut oil) may clog your skin pores instead. Therefore, when use topically, I highly recommend virgin coconut oil.No more sign-ups for exorbitant facial and skin treatment packages and purchasing of high-priced skin care products. You save tons of cash!
All you need to do is get a bottle of organic virgin coconut oil and apply a dab to your skin each time and reapply it as often as necessary. Don't forget to add it to your diet so you can more effectively fight free radicals from the outside as well as from the inside. After 3 months, come back here and check how your skin fares in this Skin Elasticity Test.
| Time (seconds) | Functional Age (years) |
| 1 - 2 | under 30 |
| 3 - 4 | 30 - 44 |
| 5 - 9 | 45 - 50 |
| 10 - 15 | 60 |
| 35 - 55 | 70 |
| 56 or more | over 70 |
Here's how it works:
You'll pinch the skin on the back of your left hand with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand and hold it for 5 seconds. Let go and time how long it takes for your skin to completely flatten back out (don't cheat!).
The shorter the time, the younger the functional age of your skin.
For example, let's say you're 30 years old, but it takes 6 seconds for your skin to totally return to its normal appearance after the 5-sec pinch-and-hold. That means, your skin is functionally older (between 45 and 50 years old) than your actual age. This is a sign of degeneration and loss of function resulted from free-radical destruction.
You can prevent or perhaps even regain the youthfulness of your skin by eating coconut oil in place of other cooking oils, and use it topically. I can attest to the skin benefits of coconut oil because my skin bounces back within 2 seconds. I'm close to 40 at time of writing.
Coconut Oil Saves Your Hair
If you got damaged hair, try using coconut oil frequently on your hair and scalp. It's been proven more effective in treating damaged hair than mineral oil and sunflower oil. That's because coconut oil, albeit it doesn't contain protein in itself, is the only oil which can effectively reduce protein loss in hair.
Coconut oil can also help to control dandruff. It works best if you use it as a conditioner over time. But does it promote hair growth? I'd say it'll strengthen your hair and prevent hair loss. As for regrowing after years of hair loss, some people do experience positive results after 3 - 6 months of massaging their scalp with coconut oil while others see no significant improvement.
Disadvantages of Coconut Oil
Now you've read so much about the fantastic health benefits of coconut oil, it's time to uncover the "bad" side of this "liquid diamond".
No matter how good a thing is, it does possess at least one or few drawbacks to ponder upon. Despite its powerful healing properties and massive health benefits, coconut oil is no exception.
Cold
According to Dr. Bruce Fife, the president of the Coconut Research Center in his The Coconut Oil Miracle book, there is one common ailment (close to flu) that coconut oil has no effect on.
That's 'cold'.
Symptoms of cold and flu may look alike, but they're triggered by different viruses. The most common virus that causes cold is known as rhinovirus while the one that causes flu is called influenza virus. Only your own immune system can defeat cold virus. MCFAs in coconut oil can't do anything to the cold virus, hence you'll be down with cold even if you consume coconut oil regularly.
When cold strikes you, your immune system guard will weaken and become vulnerable to the invasion of other harmful germs. They'll enter and proliferate in your body, thereby aggravating your cold condition and might even lead to other problematic illnesses or diseases.
But good news is, though coconut oil can't help you fight that loathsome cold virus, it's able to help you rid those uninvited microorganisms and ease your immune system so that it can concentrate on fighting the cold virus effectively. In a way, coconut oil still proves beneficial in fighting cold, albeit indirectly.
Diarrhea
Apart from the fact that coconut oil can treat constipation (lots of "constipators" said coconut oil works extremely well for them), it may also trigger the opposite condition — diarrhea-like symptoms if you suddenly up your oil intake too much. That's because MCFAs in coconut oil help to soften stools and loosen bowels.
My advice is if you want to increase your coconut oil intake for better health benefits, add it in moderation day by day to see how your body reacts. Doing so also allows your body to gradually get used to the greater amount.
The traditional Pacific islanders are taking as much as 10 tablespoons of coconut oil in their daily diet, I don't see why we can't be like them. The key difference is they've long been used to that amount while we're not, so we have to moderately add the dose to condition our body to adapt to it eventually.
100% Fat
Unlike coconut cream, did you know that pure coconut oil doesn't contain protein and carbohydrate? Remember early on I told you not to rely solely on coconut oil for overall health benefits. This is the reason.
Although coconut oil can prevent the protein loss in your hair and expedite your damaged tissue repairing (via increasing metabolism), it doesn't provide protein for hair and tissue repair. Our body (especially our brain) needs carbohydrate to survive too. So, you still need to supplement your coconut diet with appropriate amount of carb and protein in order to achieve a balance intake of macronutrients (i.e. fat, carb and protein).
Speaking of macronutrients, coconut oil doesn't provide you with omega-3 — the essential fatty acids that we need badly but which our body can't synthesize on its own. Hence, you also need to get a good source of omega-3, and I strongly recommend the natural plant-based source — flaxseed.
Not Cure-All
Coconut oil can help prevent, relieve, or even cure a wide range of degenerative diseases as mentioned early on. It's true and it's a fact... so long as the diseases or illnesses are caused by or associated with the invasion of bacteria, fungi, viruses, free radicals or protozoa. We're invariably in contact with these supergerms and harmful microorganisms at all times. With coconut oil, we can reduce their harmful effect on us.
However, we need more than just coconut oil to strengthen our immune system to completely ward off all destructive diseases and illnesses.
Coconut oil only provides us with its antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant and antiprotozoal properties with traces of few fat-soluble nutrients such as iron, vitamin K and E. But for important nutrients like vitamin A, B-family, C, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, sodium etc, coconut oil has none of them (see nutrition facts of virgin coconut oil). So, our body still need other foods to work hand in hand with coconut oil to supply us a complete spectrum of nutrients in order to keep us in perfect health.
Simply put, you can't rely solely on one single food to stay perfectly healthy, even though coconut oil is one of the few select super foods that provide us with the most health benefits.
Odor
Not all like the flavor and fragrance like me. Some simply can't stand the smell or taste. Or when use on skin, it leaves a light 'odor' behind. If you're one who doesn't like that, choose RBD ("refined, bleached and deodorized") coconut oil instead. This type of coconut oil bears no odor, color and taste. It's specially made for the minority who doesn't like the natural flavor that coconut oil gives off.
Although it leaves no smell behind after applying to skin, refined coconut oil may cause your skin pores to clog up. So, when use topically, it's best to go with virgin coconut oil (or fractionated coconut oil). Learn to like the smell and you'll gain more than you would from RBD coconut oil.
Best Type of Coconut Oil for Maximum Health Benefits
When extracted from fresh coconuts using any number of methods (free from high temperatures and chemical solvents) such as boiling, fermentation, refrigeration (chilling), mechanical pressing, or centrifuge, the oil retains its distinctive coconut fragrance, and best, its full nutritional values for optimal health benefits.
Some brands labeled the oil as Extra Virgin but which in fact is still virgin coconut oil.Unlike olive oil which comes with 3 essential official grades of Extra Virgin, Virgin and Pure, coconut oil is basically classified into 2 types only — Virgin and RBD. 'Virgin' in coconut oil is not an official classification. It simply means that coconut oil is produced through the use of lower temperatures without chemicals, and retain its most natural form.
Such type of coconut oil belongs to virgin grade which carries a very delicate coconut taste that makes you feel like eating the yummy coconut cream.
Virgin coconut oil looks crystal clear in liquid form and turns snowy or cloudy at temperature below 76°F (24°C). I've got people asking me about coconut oil turning snowy at cool temperature. They thought the cloudy appearance means it turns bad or rancid. Now you know it's not. When it turns bad, even in crystal clear form, it bears an unpleasant odor which you'll be able to tell.
I like to spread a healthy serving of virgin coconut oil on two slices of wholegrain bread, sprinkle some ground flaxseeds on the bread and eat them as a meal. I also cook my favorite dishes with the oil. It's simply delicious. I love the taste and smell. And I strongly recommend virgin coconut oil if you're like me.
But as I said moments ago, if you don't like the flavor, you can use RBD coconut oil instead. This type of coconut oil is extracted from dried coconut known as copra, instead of fresh coconuts. Coconut farmers make copra by drying coconut meat in the sun, smoking it, heating it in a wood-fuelled kiln, or some combination of these methods.
Why is copra unhygienic?Companies pay coconut farmers very low wages for the job of drying coconut meat in wood-fuelled kilns or in the sun for a period of time, hence farmers do not really care about the environment where drying takes place. The coconut meat is exposed to pests, animals and molds.
When copra is ready to be shipped in bulk to large oil mills in Europe or Asia for further processing, the long distance and humid tropical conditions further encourage the growth of molds on the copra. These molds are often not removed before processing begins.
You can't consume this crude oil (brownish yellow in color) obtained from copra yet because it contains certain degree of molds, bacteria and other contaminants during the coconut-drying process.
Hence, oil extracted from copra must go through high heat and chemical processing to remove the impurities and contaminants before it qualifies for consumption. And during this refining process, its naturally occurring phytochemicals which give the oil a distinctive smell and taste are also removed. Hence the name RBD ("refined, bleached and deodorized").
Some companies partially hydrogenate RBD oil to raise its melting point for use as ice cream coatings, non-dairy creamers, whipped toppings or cream centers in processed foods in regions with warm climate so the food won't melt easily. Hydrogenation also makes the oil more stable and prolongs its shelf life.
But hydrogenation (especially partial hydrogenation) may produce health-killing trans-fatty acids that could raise your risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancers.
So, if you want to reap the health benefits of coconut oil without its natural coconut flavor and odor, make sure you choose pure RBD oil without hydrogenation and trans-fatty acid, which unfortunately, is quite difficult to find in certain regions.
Although the process of obtaining RBD coconut oil seems horrible in the beginning, high-quality pure RBD coconut oil still retains primarily the stable health-promoting saturated fatty acids as the refining process doesn't depreciate much of its nutritional values and health benefits. However, according to a study on antioxidant properties of virgin coconut oil conducted at Universiti Putra Malaysia, virgin coconut oil exhibits greater antioxidant potency (49.79 to 79.87%) than RBD coconut oil (49.58%).
That means, RBD coconut oil is almost as healthful as virgin coconut oil except for its colorless, tasteless and odorless feature, and relatively lower antioxidant capacity.
You can use this oil to prepare dishes that you don't want the natural coconut fragrance to override that of the food, or simply because you want just the nutrients but not the flavor.
So unless you're certain that you're buying pure RBD oil, you may be consuming hydrogenated RBD coconut oil without realizing it. Some people also worry about the hygiene condition of the way copra is handled and the chemical residue from the refining process.
Is there an alternative for RBD oil?
Heard of fractionated coconut oil? This is another type of refined coconut oil (aka MCT oil) which people use it more as a carrier oil for essential oils in massage and as important ingredient in commercial baby formulas. You can eat it too as a supplement or special diet but not advisable. It won't give you as much health benefits as compared to consuming virgin coconut oil because fractionated coconut oil doesn't contain the supernutrient lauric acid. It consists almost entirely of both caprylic and capric fatty acids only.
Wait, I gotta warn you!
There's another type of coconut oil labeled as "100% pure" or "virgin" (how dare they lie!), which in fact is nothing short of an inferior coconut oil (called cochin oil) extracted from copra in India, Cochin. It goes through only the refining and bleaching stages, hence it is also known as RB coconut oil. It has a yellowish or slightly gray color (because of the mold on copra) and reeks of slight smoky stench mixing with coconut odor (the smoky smell comes from smoke-dried copra).
I've bought such oil and it costs super cheap; 10 - 15 times cheaper than the premium virgin coconut oil I always use. It does still bear its antimicrobial properties, but I wouldn't suggest you to consume or use it on your skin as it leaves a somewhat sticky and dirty feel on the skin. You can use it however, to coat your furniture or any other metallic or wooden stuff to deter the growth of bacteria, rust and molds (I use it this way and it works great).
Again, I strongly recommend that you switch to virgin coconut oil for home cooking if you do not want to be further intoxicated by the normal vegetable cooking oil or animal-based oil you're using right now.
You can also eat the oil on its own if it's fine with you. But I would advise that you get your dosage in a variety of delicious recipes. You'll love those yummy recipes created with the fragrant natural virgin coconut oil.
Storing and Handling Virgin Coconut Oil to Retain Its Nutritional Benefits
Though unrefined, virgin coconut oil doesn't turn rancid and affect its health benefits easily due to its 92% saturated fat content. Hence, you can store it in a cool, dry place for a longer period (up to 2 years). It works equally well either at room temperature or in refrigerator.
Snowy appearance coupled with funny smell and taste means the oil has gone "defective".But in the case of thawing, the oil may stay gluey and snowy at room temperature for up to 24 hours after you take it out from the fridge. That's normal. Do not be alarmed.
Depending on your needs, some people prefer to chill the oil so when she needs to cook she just simply scoop up the hardened oil (you may need something with sharp edge for scooping) and dump it into the hot pan or pot for frying or cooking. This sudden change of temperature won't destroy the supernutrients in coconut oil, so don't worry.
Me? I keep it out of fridge because I use it few times a day, so it can be kind of troublesome to take out and put back into the refrigerator. This frequent act can eat up your electricity bill.
If you're thinking of bringing some coconut oil to your workplace so that you can continue to gain its health benefits even at work, you'll need to get a smaller, portable container to hold the oil.
But make sure you wash, clean and dry the container before you transfer the oil over. If not, you'll see little water bubbles trapping within the oil and when you pour it into the hot frying pan, you may get scalded and burned when the steam bubbles burst and pop hot coconut oil everywhere. Same for using spoon to scoop coconut oil. Make sure it's dry before it touches the oil.
Some people dispute that it's not so good to hold coconut oil in plastic container because it may react with the plastic to form toxin even though it's more stable than olive oil. Well, depending on what type of plastic you use to hold the oil. Reputable companies usually use PET (class 1 — polyethylene terephthalate) which reacts very minimally (thus, safely) with the food it holds. For stable food like coconut oil, I believe there is even little, if not zero chemical leaching into the oil.
So when you see coconut oil being packed in PET container, stay cool. It's safe for consumption. And it won't alter the coconut oil's health benefits and nutritional values. Like me, even though Nutiva™ packs its aromatic virgin coconut oil in PET container, I still buy it because I simply couldn't resist its flavorful "mouth feel" which other brands fail to leave in my mouth. Moreover, it's easier to handle as it doesn't break easily like glass.
Alright, if you insist on having high quality premium virgin coconut oil (like Nutiva's) packed in glass container, I have good news for you!
Improve Your Health & Get In Shape with Nutiva's™ Cold Centrifuge, Organic Raw Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil (Glass-Packed)... Hot Selling Item, Get Now Before It Gets Sold Out!Not long ago Nutiva launched its brand new raw virgin coconut oil filled in glass (see right). I actually bought the 54-oz jar. It tastes as good as the one packed in PET. But it's been selling like hot cakes and several times got sold out very quickly probably due to it being packaged in glass and more people like it this way.
I don't get the chance to buy the glass-packed coconut oil from Nutiva all the time, so every time while waiting for it, I'll buy back the original PET package.
Eating Raw / Cooking with Coconut Oil
You can dribble coconut oil over your favorite salads or other healthy raw diets to enhance the aroma and texture while reaping coconut oil's health benefits.
However, salads are often served chilled. And coconut oil melts at 76°F (24°C). So, when you add it to cold salads (below 76°F), coconut oil will solidify instead of staying in liquid form. One way to get around this is to mix coconut oil with olive oil, which has a relatively lower melting point and often used as salad dressing.
Besides that, you can use coconut oil for cooking, sautéing, stir-frying and baking. That's because its high saturated fat won't produce a cooked food filled with free radicals, so it's safe for you to use coconut oil at moderately high temperature. When used for deep-frying, it doesn't get absorbed by food as much as other types of oil, thereby retaining the texture of the food without making it so oily on the inside.
But make sure you don't over-heat the oil till it smokes. Because once it exceeds the smoke point of 350°F (177°C), its nutritional properties may break down and cause harm to your health instead.
However, under normal culinary circumstances, you should be safe so long as you control the heat well. I've been cooking and even frying with coconut oil for years now and I feel great with this flavorful and rejuvenating dietary intake.
I don't bake much, but I love the muffins that my friend bakes with coconut oil. It adds a subtle sweetness to baked food (though it doesn't carry any natural sugar in it) so you can add less sugar. Try to replace butter, vegetable oil and shortening with coconut oil in your baking. As a guide, use 3/4 cup of coconut oil to replace 1 cup of shortening.
You can set the oven temperature to slightly above 350°F (177°C). The moisture in the food will keep the inside temperature well below 212°F (100°C). So, don't worry that the oil will smoke up and had its health benefits destroyed.
I suggest adding coconut oil to your hot beverages (I do this every day). Yes, it doesn't mix well and it floats on surface. But it won't taste oily or leave an oily aftertaste in your mouth. In fact, I enjoy the nice coconut taste in my drink very much.
How Much Coconut Oil is Too Much?
Bruce Fife, author of The Coconut Oil Miracle recommends a daily dosage of 3 1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil for adults to gain its health benefits. But you're still fine if you keep to 1 or 2 tablespoons daily.
Again, just a reminder, don't suddenly jack up your intake to 2 or 3 tablespoons per day especially when you first try coconut oil.
Spread out the dosage in smaller amount over the day such that instead of one tablespoon in the morning on your bread or oat, you put just one teaspoon. And then another teaspoon in your snack few hours later and so on.
Give your body some time to adapt to the new friendly coconut oil and in no time you'll start seeing a brand new you wearing a youthful complexion and refreshing skin with a more energized, slimmer body.
Finally, aren't you amazed that wonderful natural remedies can be within your reach and cheaply in abundance but only if you believe?
Try coconut oil today. You won't regret. And to gain complete health benefits of coconut oil, I strongly recommend that you get along with your virgin coconut oil intake a copy of The Coconut Oil Miracle (see below).
Reap Coconut Oil's Health Benefits Now...
Click on images below to view the best collections (4 stars & above) of high quality coconut oil and best-sellers on coconut oil:
The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife
Virgin Coconut Oil: Nature's Miracle Medicine by Bruce Fife
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