Cocnut Oil

[Guest guest]

Dear Herbalists,

this is an interesting study on Coconut Oil ..please pass the

Cocnut!.Best Penny

 

What about studies where animals were fed unprocessed coconut oil? Enig

wrote: “Hostmark et al

(1980) compared the effects of diets containing 10% coconut oil and 10%

sunflower oil on

lipoprotein distribution in male Wistar rats. Coconut oil feeding

produced significantly lower

levels (p=0.05) of pre-beta lipoproteins (VLDL) and significantly higher

(p=<0.01)

alpha-lipoproteins (HDL) relative to sunflower feeding.” (Editor’s note:

HDLs are considered

the good cholesterol as they prevent deposits of LDL cholesterol on

artery walls.) She also cited a

study by Awad (1981) on Wistar rats fed a diet of either 14% (natural)

coconut oil or 14%

safflower oil. She stated:“Total tissue cholesterol accumulation for

animals on the safflower

diet was six times greater than for animals fed the [unhydrogenated]

coconut oil..A

conclusion that can be drawn from some of the animal research is that

feeding hydrogenated

coconut oil devoid of essential fatty acids (EFA)...potentiates the

formation of atherosclerosis

markers. It is of note that animals fed regular coconut oil have less

cholesterol deposited in

their livers and other parts of their bodies.” Enig also referred to

epidemiological studies done

by Kaunitz and Dayrit (1992) on coconut eating societies who found that

“available population

studies show that dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum

cholesterol nor to high

coronary heart disease..” It is noteworthy that hydrogenated coconut oil

was not consumed by

these coconut eating societies; they only consumed natural coconut oil.

 

Kaunitz and Dayrit noted in 1989 that Mendis et al reported when Sri

Lankan males were changed

from their normal diet of natural coconut oil to corn oil, their LDL

cholesterol declined 23.8% which

is good news, but their HDL cholesterol declined 41.4% which is bad

news. This created a more

unfavorable LDL/HDL ratio meaning that on the corn oil diet there would

be more cholesterol

depositing on the artery walls than on the coconut oil diet. In plain

English, a diet using liquid corn

oil will lead to cholesterol deposits faster than a diet using natural

coconut oil. Natural

coconut oil, by increasing the good HDL cholesterol, may help prevent

atherosclerosis and heart

disease. Enig cited several other studies in her article that showed

that natural coconut oil (not

hydrogenated coconut oil) had health benefits markers indicating that

coconut oil was more beneficial

in preventing heart disease than most vegetable oils. Enig also cited

the research of Tholstrup et al

(1994) on natural (NOT hydrogenated) palm kernel oil which is high in

lauric acid and also contains

myristic acid. Tholstrup found that with palm kernel oil, “HDL

cholesterol levels increased

significantly from baseline values.”

 

Enig reported in her article that the effects of coconut oil on persons

with low cholesterol levels was

the opposite of persons with high cholesterol levels. Of persons with

low total cholesterol counts, she

wrote that “there may be a rising of serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol

and especially

HDL cholesterol.” In persons with high cholesterol levels, “there is

lowering of total cholesterol

and LDL cholesterol.” The studies she cited showed that in both groups

the LDL/HDL ratio

moved in a favorable direction. In persons with AIDS or

immune-compromised from other

causes, the conclusions of this research are profound. It means

everything the public has been

told about vegetable oils on television for the past 15 years has been

half truths and

leading the public to the wrong conclusions. The public has been led to

believe that tropicals will

clog your arteries and cause heart disease. In fact, the opposite is

true; natural tropical oils will help

prevent hardening of the arteries while most liquid vegetable oils will

increase hardening of the

arteries! In a phone call to Mary Enig in April, 1997, she told me that

the worst oil to use for any

purpose is Canola oil. When used in cooking, it produces the very high

levels of trans fatty acids.

 

MARY ENIG Ph.D. ON NATURAL COCONUT OIL

FOR AIDS and OTHER VIRAL INFECTIONS