My mother forwarded an article to the family of an interview touting the benefits of coconut oil. The author interviewed a woman who carried certain credentials in the media, an educated woman, who shared her personal experience with coconut oil, including her frank disclosure that the coconut oil helped her husband in the bedroom. The reputation of this miracle oil has soared in the social media in recent years, bolstered by similar heartfelt stories earnestly shared with family, friends, and strangers, not to mention the plethora of delectable desserts and home remedies cooked up by convincing social media influencers. In comparison, olive oil is the nerdy older brother that gets forgotten in the corner, or at least by the marketing department in the food industry.

Is the hype justified?

What’s in coconut oil?

Coconut oil is practically 100% fat (no cholesterol, fiber, with traces of vitamin, minerals, and plant sterols). One tablespoon of coconut oil contains about 13.5 grams of fat, with 80 to 90% of which being saturated fat. Almost half of these saturated fat is made up of a fatty acid called lauric acid. The claims seem to be partially, if not all, based on some of characteristics of the lauric acid, such as the fact Lauric acid raises the HDL (the “good” cholesterol), though it also raises LDL (the “bad” cholesterol). Olive oil, on the other hand, while it wouldn’t taste as good in the banana cream pie, is rich in monounsaturated fats that have been shown to lower LDL and raise HDL.

Claims of benefits

Some might point to the fact the human breast milk actually contains lauric acid. Lauric acid constitutes 6.2% of the human breast milk’s total fat content. And this plays a role in infant immunity, because when the babies digest breast milk, the lauric acid forms monolaurin, a compound with antimicrobial properties that protect the newborns. The antimicrobial properties of lauric acid have led some to use coconut oil as natural remedies for skin and oral health.

There are also claims that coconut oil is quickly absorbed by the body and metabolized quickly, helping with weight loss. This likely was inferred from a research that used a specially formulated coconut oil made of 100% medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), a type of fat that have shorter chemical structure and therefore used by the body more quickly. The normal off-the-shelf coconut oils do not contain 100% MCTs.¹

Saturated fat content of coconut oil increases LDL

What about claims about brain health, digestive health, and especially heart health? As with the benefits shared by the woman in the article my mother sent, the claims tend to be anecdotal, with limited evidence in research. What’s the harm with these tips, recipes, natural remedies that came into our social media feeds? Swishing your teeth with coconut oil hoping to reduce plaque or lower likelihood of tooth decays may be completely harmless, despite lack of credible scientific evidence (also not endorsed by the American Dental Association [ADA]). Who know? It might even work the same way placebo works. But using more coconut oil in the diet and believing that one is boosting heart health can actually have the very opposite effect.

In a peer review journal of cardiovascular medicine, Circulation, an article published in 2020 opened with the following words:

“That coconut oil contributes to cardiovascular disease would appear noncontroversial because its saturated fat content increases plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration. Cholesterol-rich LDL is a major cause of atherosclerosis because it delivers its cholesterol load to the arterial wall and causes obstruction and inflammation.“²

In another article where the authors reviewed and analyzed 16 clinical trials and gave their verdict: “Coconut oil should not be viewed as healthy oil for cardiovascular disease risk reduction and limiting coconut oil consumption because of its high saturated fat content is warranted.”³

If it’s not good for your heart, it’s not good for your brain either

It’s also dangerous to take coconut oil for brain. There is increasing evidence linking heart health with brain health. Among other things, high blood pressure, high cholesterol are both risk factors for dementia. In other words, if it’s bad for your heart, it’s not good for your brain, either.

I won’t be swapping out the olive oil from my Horiatiki any time soon.

References

1. Eyres L, Eyres MF, Chisholm A, Brown RC. Coconut oil consumption and cardiovascular risk factors in humans. Nutrition reviews. 2016 Apr 1;74(4):267-80. ↩︎
2. Sacks FM. Coconut oil and heart health: fact or fiction? Circulation: 2020 Mar 10;141(10):815-817. ↩︎
3. Neelakantan N, Seah JYH, van Dam RM. The Effect of Coconut Oil Consumption on Cardiovascular Risk Factors A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials. Circulation: 2020 Mar 10;141(10):803-814. ↩︎