Coconut Oil Benefits
Coconut Oil Has Been Shown to:
- Contain high levels of MCT’s (medium chain fatty acids)
- Easily converted to energy
- Speed up the metabolism
- Promote weight loss
- Contain zero trans fat
- Have a longer shelf life than other oils, 3-5 years
- Stable cooking oil
- Very low amount of oxidation and free radical formation
- Can be used over and over because of its stability
- Provide an immediate source of energy for athletes
- Support the immune system
- Supply fewer calories than other fats
- Promote healthy skin, hair and keep skin smooth and wrinkle-free without being "oily"
- Function as an antioxidant
- Provide anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties
Coconut Oil Does Not:
- Increase blood cholesterol levels
- Contribute to heart disease or atherosclerosis
- Contribute to weight problems
Research
Nutritionalists tell us that we need fats and oils to (1) lubricate our joints and intestines, (2) strengthen cell membranes, (3) nourish the skin, and (4) restore fat-soluble nutrients to the tissues. Food oil is made up of fatty acids-individual fat molecules whose length of carbon chain determine health properties. Shorter-chain fatty acids are more soluble and not stored as fats like long-chain fatty acids. Saturation of hydrogen atoms in fat molecules gives oil stability and shelf life. Oxygen, heat and light cause unsaturated fatty acids to (1) turn rancid, (2) form trans fats, (3) create free radicals.
A generation ago, imported food oil producers made us believe that all saturated fats were bad for the heart. But when it was found later that their highly processed polyunsaturated oils were causing cancer, they shifted to genetically altered mono-unsaturated.
Now, in an about-face, researchers are showing that the highly refined and hydrogenated canola, soybean and corn oils were unhealthy, while finding coconut oil healthiest.
Coconut oil helps prevent heart disease
In 2000 leading hormones researcher, Dr. Raymond Peat confirmed that a sufficient quantity of coconut oil added regularly to a balanced diet: (1) lowers cholesterol to normal by promoting the conversion of bad LDL cholesterol into the anti-oxidant pregnenolone, (2) tends to restore the heart-healthy processes inhibited by unsaturated fats, like metabolism, clot removal and immune function, (3) reduces the body's need for the antioxidant vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids, (4) inhibits the liver's formation of fat, allowing energy to be used, rather than stored, and (5) can kill major types of atherogenic bacteria and viruses in the blood.