Benefits of Coconut Oil

[Guest guest]

Coconut Oil: You Want a Food Loaded with Real Health Benefits? You

Want Coconut Oil

 

The entire coconut is usuable,but the fruit of it PERFECT in everyway!

 

I will just outline some of the virtues of coconut oil.

The unsaturated oils in some cooked foods become rancid in just a few

hours, even at refrigerator temperatures, and are responsible for the

stale taste of leftover foods. (Eating slightly stale food isn't

particularly harmful, since the same oils, even when eaten absolutely

fresh, will oxidize at a much higher rate once they are in the body,

where they are heated and thoroughly mixed with an abundance of

oxygen.)

This is curious but good.Coconut oil that has been kept at room

temperature for a year has been tested for rancidity, and showed no

evidence of it.

Coconut oil is unusually rich in short and medium chain fatty acids.

Shorter chain length allows fatty acids to be metabolized without use

of the carnitine transport system. Mildronate protects cells against

stress partly by opposing the action of carnitine, and comparative

studies showed that added carnitine had the opposite effect,

promoting the oxidation of unsaturated fats during stress, and

increasing oxidative damage to cells.

I suspect that a degree of saturation of the oxidative apparatus by

short-chain fatty acids has a similar effect -- that is, that these

very soluble and mobile short-chain saturated fats have priority for

oxidation, because they don't require carnitine transport into the

mitochondrion, and that this will tend to inhibit oxidation of the

unstable, peroxidizable unsaturated fatty acids.

When Albert Schweitzer operated his clinic in tropical Africa, he

said it was many years before he saw any cases of cancer, and he

believed that the appearance of cancer was caused by the change to

the European type of diet. In the l920s, German researchers showed

that mice on a fat-free diet were practically free of cancer. But

understand not all fats are bad, the body needs some fats

Since then, many studies have demonstrated a very close association

between consumption of unsaturated oils and the incidence of cancer.

Heart damage is easily produced in animals by feeding them linoleic

acid; this " essential " fatty acid turned out to be the heart toxin in

rape-seed oil.

The addition of saturated fat to the experimental heart-toxic oil-

rich diet protects against the damage to heart cells.

Immunosuppression was observed in patients who were being " nourished "

by intravenous emulsions of " essential fatty acids, " and as a result

coconut oil is used as the basis for intravenous fat feeding, except

in organ-transplant patients. For those patients, emulsions of

unsaturated oils are used specifically for their immunosuppressive

effects.

General aging, and especially aging of the brain, is increasingly

seen as being closely associated with lipid peroxidation.

Several years ago I met an old couple, who were only a few years

apart in age, but the wife looked many years younger than her

doddering old husband. She was from the Philippines, and she remarked

that she always had to cook two meals at the same time, because her

husband couldn't adapt to her traditional food. Three times every

day, she still prepared her food in coconut oil. Her apparent youth

increased my interest in the effects of coconut oil.

In the l960s, Hartroft and Porta gave an elegant argument for

decreasing the ratio of unsaturated oil to saturated oil in the diet

(and thus in the tissues). They showed that the " age pigment " is

produced in proportion to the ratio of oxidants to antioxidants,

multiplied by the ratio of unsaturated oils to saturated oils.

More recently, a variety of studies have demonstrated that

ultraviolet light induces peroxidation in unsaturated fats, but not

saturated fats, and that this occurs in the skin as well as in the

lab.

Rabbit experiments, and studies of humans, showed that the amount of

unsaturated oil in the diet strongly affects the rate at which aged,

wrinkled skin develops.

The unsaturated fat in the skin is a major target for the aging and

carcinogenic effects of ultraviolet light, though not necessarily the

only one.

In the l940s, farmers attempted to use cheap coconut oil for

fattening their animals, but they found that it made them lean,

active and hungry. For a few years, an antithyroid drug was found to

make the livestock get fat while eating less food, but then it was

found to be a strong carcinogen, and it also probably produced

hypothyroidism in the people who ate the meat.

By the late l940s, it was found that the same antithyroid effect,

causing animals to get fat without eating much food, could be

achieved by using soy beans and corn as feed.

Later, an animal experiment fed diets that were low or high in total

fat, and in different groups the fat was provided by pure coconut

oil, or a pure unsaturated oil, or by various mixtures of the two

oils. At the end of their lives, the animals' obesity increased

directly in proportion to the ratio of unsaturated oil to coconut oil

in their diet, and was not related to the total amount of fat they

had consumed.

That is, animals which ate just a little pure unsaturated oil were

fat, and animals which ate a lot of coconut oil were lean.

G. W. Crile and his wife found that the metabolic rate of people in

Yucatan, where coconut is a staple food, averaged 25% higher than

that of people in the United States.

In a hot climate, the adaptive tendency is to have a lower metabolic

rate, so it is clear that some factor is more than offsetting this

expected effect of high environmental temperatures. The people there

are lean, and recently it has been observed that the women there have

none of the symptoms we commonly associate with the menopause.

By l950, then, it was established that unsaturated fats suppress the

metabolic rate, apparently creating hypothyroidism.

Over the next few decades, the exact mechanisms of that metabolic

damage were studied. Unsaturated fats damage the mitochondria, partly

by suppressing the reparatory enzyme, and partly by causing

generalized oxidative damage. The more unsaturated the oils are, the

more specifically they suppress tissue response to thyroid hormone,

and transport of the hormone on the thyroid transport protein.

Plants evolved a variety of toxins designed to protect themselves

from " predators, " such as grazing animals. Seeds contain a variety of

toxins, that seem to be specific for mammalian enzymes, and the seed

oils themselves function to block protein digestive enzymes in the

stomach.

The thyroid hormone is formed in the gland by the action of a protein

digestive enzyme, and the unsaturated oils also inhibit that enzyme.

Similar protein digestive enzymes involved in clot removal and immune

function appear to be similarly inhibited by these oils.

Just as metabolism is " activated " by consumption of coconut oil,

which prevents the inhibiting effect of unsaturated oils, other

inhibited processes, such as clot removal and immune function, will

probably tend to be restored by continuing use of coconut oil.

Brain tissue is very rich in complex forms of fats.

The experiment (around 1978) in which pregnant mice were given diets

containing either coconut oil or unsaturated oil showed that brain

development was superior in the young mice whose mothers ate coconut

oil.

Because coconut oil supports thyroid function, and thyroid governs

brain development, including myelination, the result might simply

reflect the difference between normal and hypothyroid individuals.

However, in 1980, experimenters demonstrated that young rats fed milk

containing soy oil incorporated the oil directly into their brain

cells, and had structurally abnormal brain cells as a result.

Lipid oxidation occurs during seizures, and antioxidants such as

vitamin E have some anti-seizure activity. Currently, lipid oxidation

is being found to be involved in the nerve cell degeneration of

Alzheimer's disease.

Various fractions of coconut oil are coming into use as " drugs, "

meaning that they are advertised as treatments for diseases. Butyric

acid is used to treat cancer, lauric and myristic acids to treat

virus infections, and mixtures of medium-chain fats are sold for

weight loss.

Purification undoubtedly increases certain effects, and results in

profitable products, but in the absence of more precise knowledge and

common sense, the whole natural product, used as a regular food, is

the best way to protect health. With the pharamcuetical companies

bungling and disasterous results in separating these components from

a plant or creating them synthetically (poison) Getting your benifits

from a whole source that is KNOWN to work is your best option. I

think its obvious that together with other natural compounds in the

plant they come from in their natural state is VERY important. All

these compunds work together naturally and safely. I think splenda is

proof enough of that. Splenda is by far a worse carcinogen than

saccryn, and splenda is created by splitting sugar molecules. The

damn raw sugar is better for you at least that doesn't cause cancer!

Treating any complex natural product as the drug industry does, as a

raw material to be fractionated in the search for " drug " products, is

risky, because the relevant knowledge isn't sought in the search for

an association between a single chemical and a single disease.

While the toxic unsaturated paint-stock oils, especially safflower,

soy, corn and linseed (flaxseed) oils, have been sold to the public

precisely for their drug effects, all of their claimed benefits were

false.

When people become interested in coconut oil as a " health food, " the

huge seed-oil industry -- operating through their shills -- are going

to attack it as an " unproved drug. "

 

While components of coconut oil have been found to have remarkable

physiological effects (as antihistamines, antiinfectives/antiseptics,

promoters of immunity, glucocorticoid antagonist, nontoxic anticancer

agents, for example).

The cholesterol-lowering fiasco for a long time centered on the

ability of unsaturated oils to slightly lower serum cholesterol. For

years, the mechanism of that action wasn't known, which should have

suggested caution. Now, it seems that the effect is just one more

toxic action, in which the liver defensively retains its cholesterol,

rather than releasing it into the blood.

Large scale human studies have provided overwhelming evidence that

whenever drugs, including the unsaturated oils, were used to lower

serum cholesterol, mortality increased, from a variety of causes

including accidents, but mainly from cancer.

Since the l930s, it has been clearly established that suppression of

the thyroid raises serum cholesterol (while increasing mortality from

infections, cancer, and heart disease), while restoring the thyroid

hormone brings cholesterol down to normal.

In this situation, however, thyroid isn't suppressing the synthesis

of cholesterol, but rather is promoting its use to form hormones and

bile salts. When the thyroid is functioning properly, the amount of

cholesterol in the blood entering the ovary governs the amount of

progesterone being produced by the ovary, and the same situation

exists in all steroid-forming tissues, such as the adrenal glands and

the brain.

Progesterone and its precursor, pregnenolone, have a generalized

protective function: antioxidant, anti-seizure, antitoxin, anti-

spasm, anti-clot, anticancer, pro-memory, pro-myelination, pro-

attention, etc. Any interference with the formation of cholesterol

will interfere with all of these exceedingly important protective

functions.

As far as the evidence goes, coconut oil, added regularly to a

balanced diet, lowers cholesterol to normal by promoting its

conversion into pregnenolone.

Coconut-eating cultures in the tropics have consistently lower

cholesterol than people in the U.S. Everyone that I know who uses

coconut oil regularly happens to have cholesterol levels of about

160, while eating mainly cholesterol rich foods (eggs, milk, cheese,

meat, shellfish). I encourage people to eat sweet fruits, rather than

starches, if they want to increase their production of cholesterol,

since fructose has that effect.

Many people see coconut oil in its hard, white state, and -- as a

result of their training watching television or going to medical

school -- associate it with the cholesterol-rich plaques in blood

vessels. Those lesions in blood vessels are caused mostly by lipid

oxidation of unsaturated fats, and relate to stress, because

adrenaline liberates fats from storage, and the lining of blood

vessels is exposed to high concentrations of the blood-borne

material.

In the body, incidentally, the oil can't exist as a solid, since it

liquefies at 76 degrees. (Incidentally, the viscosity of complex

materials isn't a simple matter of averaging the viscosity of its

component materials; cholesterol and saturated fats sometimes lower

the viscosity of cell components.)

Most of the images and metaphors relating to coconut oil and

cholesterol that circulate in our culture are false and misleading. I

offer a counter-image, which is metaphorical, but it is true in that

it relates to lipid oxidation, which is profoundly important in our

bodies. After a bottle of safflower oil has been opened a few times,

a few drops that get smeared onto the outside of the bottle begin to

get very sticky, and hard to wash off.

This property is why it is a valued base for paints and varnishes,

but this varnish is chemically closely related to the age pigment

that forms " liver spots " on the skin, and similar lesions in the

brain, heart, blood vessels, lenses of the eyes, etc. The image

of " hard, white saturated coconut oil " isn't relevant to the oil's

biological action, but the image of " sticky varnish-like easily

oxidized unsaturated seed oils " is highly relevant to their toxicity.

The ability of some of the medium chain saturated fatty acids in

coconut oil to inhibit the liver's formation of fat very likely

synergizes with the pro-thyroid effect, in allowing energy to be

used, rather than stored.

When fat isn't formed from carbohydrate, the sugar is available for

use, or for

storage as glycogen. Therefore, shifting from unsaturated fats in

foods to coconut oil involves several anti-stress processes, reducing

our need for the adrenal hormones. Decreased blood sugar is a basic

signal for the release of adrenal hormones.

Unsaturated oil tends to lower the blood sugar in at least three

basic ways.

It damages mitochondria, causing respiration to be uncoupled from

energy production, meaning that fuel is burned without useful effect.

It suppresses the activity of the respiratory enzyme (directly, and

through its anti-thyroid actions), decreasing the respiratory

production of energy.

And it tends to direct carbohydrate into fat production, making both

stress and obesity more probable. For those of us who use coconut oil

consistently, one of the most noticeable changes is the ability to go

for several hours without eating, and to feel hungry without having

symptoms of hypoglycemia.

One of the stylish ways to promote the use of unsaturated oils is to

refer to their presence in " cell membranes, " and to claim that they

are essential for maintaining " membrane fluidity. " As I have

mentioned above, it is the ability of the unsaturated fats, and their

breakdown products, to interfere with enzymes and transport proteins,

which accounts for many of their toxic effects, so they definitely

don't just harmlessly form " membranes. "

They probably bind to all proteins, and disrupt some of them, but for

some reason their affinity for proteolytic and respiration-related

enzymes is particularly obvious. (I think the chemistry of this

association is going to give us some important insights into the

nature of organisms).

Unsaturated fats are slightly more water-soluble than fully saturated

fats, and so they do have a greater tendency to concentrate at

interfaces between water and fats or proteins, but there are

relatively few places where these interfaces can be usefully and

harmlessly occupied by unsaturated fats, and at a certain point, an

excess becomes harmful.

We don't want " membranes " forming where there shouldn't be membranes.

The fluidity or viscosity of cell surfaces is an extremely complex

subject, and the degree of viscosity has to be appropriate for the

function of the cell. Interestingly, in some cells, such as the cells

that line the air sacs of the lungs, cholesterol and one of the

saturated fatty acids found in coconut oil can increase the fluidity

of the cell surface.

In red blood cells, which have sometimes been wrongly described

as " hemoglobin enclosed in a cell membrane, " it has been known for a

long time that lipid oxidation of unsaturated fats weakens the

cellular structure, causing the cells to be destroyed prematurely.

Lipid oxidation products lower the rigidity of regions of cells

considered to be membranes. But the red blood cell is actually more

like a sponge in structure, consisting of a " skeleton " of proteins,

which (if not damaged by oxidation) can hold its shape, even when the

hemoglobin has been removed. Oxidants damage the protein structure,

and it is this structural damage which in turn increases

the " fluidity " of the associated fats.

So, it is probably true that in many cases the liquid unsaturated

oils do increase " membrane fluidity, " but it is now clear that in at

least some of those cases the " fluidity " corresponds to the chaos of

a damaged cell protein structure. (N. V. Gorbunov, " Effect of

structural modification of membrane proteins on lipid-protein

interactions in the human erythrocyte membrane, " Bull. Exp. Biol. &

Med. 116(11), 1364-67. 1993.

Although I had stopped using the unsaturated seed oils years ago, and

supposed that I wasn't heavily saturated with toxic unsaturated fat,

when I first used coconut oil I saw an immediate response, that

convinced me my metabolism was chronically inhibited by something

that was easily alleviated by " dilution " or molecular competition.

I had put a tablespoonful of coconut oil on some rice I had for

supper, and half an hour later while I was reading, I noticed I was

breathing more deeply than normal. I saw that my skin was pink, and I

found that my pulse was faster than normal -- about 98, I think.

After an hour or two, my pulse and breathing returned to normal.

Every day for a couple of weeks I noticed the same response while I

was digesting a small amount of coconut oil, but gradually it didn't

happen any more, and I increased my daily consumption of the oil to

about an ounce. I kept eating the same foods as before, except that I

added about 200 or 250 calories per day as coconut oil.

Apparently the metabolic surges that happened at first were an

indication that my body was compensating for an anti-thyroid

substance by producing more thyroid hormone; when the coconut oil

relieved the inhibition, I experienced a moment of slight

hyperthyroidism, but after a time the inhibitor became less

effective, and my body adjusted by producing slightly less thyroid

hormone.

Raw coconut is outstanding, and I also use shredded coconut in my

vegetable juice pulp. These are other great ways to obtain the health

benefits of coconut.

You should definitely consider switching to coconut oil exclusively

for all your sautéing and cooking needs. It does not form dangerous

trans fatty acids that even olive oil does, and it is far healthier

than any other vegetable oils out there.