Super Foods – Miracle Medicines.

[Guest guest]

Somebody asked me about coconut oil a few days ago. " How's it

selling? " I had no idea. I wasn't even aware that coconut oil was an

item that nutritional supplement shoppers were interested in.

 

Well, that shows how little I know. Perhaps I'm spending too much

time at my computer, and too little time in the store. Anyway, I was

surprised, and pleased, to notice an article in one of the magazines

that cross my desk, Healthy Living, on coconut oil.

 

Aha. Here is my opportunity to find out why people are suddenly

interested in coconut oil.

 

Now, let me point out that Healthy Living is not a publication that

you would categorize as on par with The New England Journal of

Medicine. It's a generic magazine made available to independent

health food stores for distribution to their customers. The name if

the store is overprinted on the bottom of the front page. It's

purpose is to encourage you, the consumer, to buy the products sold

by the stores distributing the magazine. But still, I was curious to

learn what was being said about coconut oil, and here was my

opportunity.

 

The title of the article was " Things You Probably Didn't Know About

Coconut Oil: An Interview with Bruce Fife, " by Rachael Baseley. And

at the top of the page, they ran the header,

" Super Foods – Miracle Medicines. "

 

Wow. Now I was really getting interested. How could I not have known

that coconut oil was a " miracle medicine? "

 

Bruce Fife, N.D., C.N. is the author of a book, " The Healing

Miracles of Coconut Oil. " The article took the form of an interview

of Dr. Fife by Ms. Baseley.

 

She starts off by asking him why he became a naturopathic physician,

and why he first became interested in coconut oil. In his reply, he

starts off by pointing out that he was taught in medical school

that " coconut oil was saturated fat, and saturated fat basically

caused heart disease. " That is what I recall as well. But he

continues:

 

" A few years ago, I went to a meeting with a group of nutritionists

and one member of the group claimed that coconut oil was one of the

good fats and did not cause heart disease, and, in fact, has many

health benefits. Everyone that was present looked shocked. She went

on an backed up her statement, and she cited some records and some

medical literature showing the benefits of coconut oil. "

 

Note that Dr. Fife says the person " cited some records and some

medical literature showing the benefits of coconut oil. "

 

Dr. Fife's interest was piqued. He said " It occurred to me that

everybody seems to know that coconut oil is bad , so there must be

lots of magazine articles written about it, along with the

references to medical literature cited. I thought it would be easy

to find these articles and actually read about it and understand it.

So that's exactly what I did: I went looking for these articles. I

went to the library and I went on the Internet... and I couldn't

find anything. There were no articles written specifically on

coconut oil. I found a lot of articles on oils, and some of them

would mention coconut oil, but they didn't go into any detail, and

they all said almost exactly the same thing... and that was that

coconut oil is a saturated fat and it causes heart disease. That

statement was repeated time and time again. But none of these

authors-not one of them-ever backed it up. None of them ever quoted

any studies from medical literature, none of them gave any facts or

figures, and I began to wonder. All these people are saying this,

and it seems like one person is quoting someone else who is quoting

someone else, and I wondered, who is the very first person to have

said this? I couldn't find any more information. I did find a few

references where authors would say that coconut oil isn't bad, but

these authors wouldn't give much detail either. I was forced-and

actually it was rather fortunate that I was-to go to the medical

literature itself eventually, read the studies on coconut oil, and

see what they had to say. "

 

I was a little confused by this at first. After all, he said that

the nutritionist at the meeting cited records and medical literature

showing the benefits of coconut oil, but it seems his search of the

literature did not reveal anything except mostly negative comments

on coconut oil. And, neither the negative comments, nor the few not-

so-negative comments, provided any " detail. "

 

The explanation, it seems, is that he searched non-medical

literature. Now, according to his narrative, he turned to " the

medical literature itself. "

 

" So I started digging through the medical literature and looked up

anything and everything on coconut oil, and what I found was rather

surprising. I found lots and lots of material and lots of coconut

oil studies, and what was really shocking, is that almost all of

them were positive. In fact, the only negative ones were when the

researchers used hydrogenated coconut oil, but with the natural

coconut oil, there were many, many, many positive benefits shown

with its use. I realized that with the exception of a few

researchers, no one really knew about all these health benefits. I

felt an obligation to gather this information together and to

publish a book, and that's how I came to write The Healing Miracles

of Coconut Oil. "

 

Now we're cooking (no pun intended.) I'm eagerly anticipating some

examples of the " positive studies " he found. I am anxious to learn

exactly what health problems have been shown to benefit from coconut

oil. I am anxious to learn just what components in coconut oil are

responsible for its previously unknown role as a " miracle medicine. "

 

Unfortunately, this was not to be. As you will soon see, if he

indeed found lots of positive coconut oil studies, he for some

reason neglected to share any of them with us in this article. The

next question was " At Healthy Living magazine we consider you one of

the world's leading experts on coconut oil. What research have you

done in this field, and what have your experiences taught you? "

 

Apparently, very little. His " research " seems to be limited to

reading the literature. " Why was this beneficial oil getting such a

bad press? " Dr. Fife responded. " I started researching and my

research has actually continued since then, studying the medical

literature and what other researchers have actually discovered,

reading the material. I'm currently doing some original research of

my own right now, regarding coconut oil. But most of my previous

experience involved going through the medical literature and

devouring everything I could find. "

 

I don't understand. He said earlier that he found " lots and lots of

material and lots of coconut oil studies, and what was really

shocking, is that almost all of them were positive. " Why not at

least tell us about a few of them?

 

Instead, in response to the next question, " How can history prove to

us the benefits of coconut oil in promoting good health? " he

continues to avoid any direct references to coconut oil's health

benefits.

 

He avoids a direct explanation of any benefits by talking about the

question of coconut oil's perceived drawback, i.e. its saturated fat

content. He says that if it was really bad for you, the effect would

be evident in those areas of the word where people eat the most

coconut and coconut oil.

 

I'm sorry, but that fact that people in Sri Lanka eat a lot of

coconut, but have a death rate of heart disease significantly less

than that of the United States, even if true, is certainly not

necessarily proof of anything related to coconut oil. There are

thousands of other variables that could be responsible for this.

 

The percentage of Sri Lankans that wear wing tip shoes is much lower

than in America. Yet Americans have a higher rate of heart disease.

Therefore, going barefoot is beneficial for your heart. This type of

logic can be entertaining, but is not pertinent to the question at

hand.

 

Along the same vein (again, no pun intended), he continues to avoid

providing direct evidence of coconut oil's health benefit by

attempting to divert attention to a supposed anti-coconut oil

conspiracy by the producers of soybean oil. Again, this is

entertaining. But it is not to the point. Even if he is right,

proving that saturated fats do not promote heart disease does not in

turn convey any specific benefit to coconut oil.

 

Maybe he is right in that it is not an " unhealthy oil " after oil.

But is it a " healthy " oil? Is it a " miracle medicine? " We have yet

to be given one single explanation–other than the claim that

(barefoot) Sri Lankans have less heart disease than Americans–as to

why coconut oil is any healthier than any other oil.

 

Maybe the answer will be provided in response to one of the final

questions in the interview. " Can you provide us with examples of how

patients have used the oil and improved their health?

 

Here is Dr. Fife's response: " Several people have been able to lose

weight using coconut oil because of its metabolic stimulation

effect. In fact, there is research which shows that if people

replace all of their cooking oils that they use with a medium-chain

fatty acid oil like coconut oil, they can lose as much as 36 pounds

a year in excess weight. I have lots of people that tell me once

they started using the coconut oil, they experienced a surge of

energy. I experienced the same thing.

 

" I can give you a personal testimonial that coconut oil can protect

the skin from the sun. A couple of years ago, I worked on my back

yard for about six hours in the hot sun, and when I came in I was

red with sunburn and it hurt. It was hurting so bad, that I applied

some coconut oil to soothe the pain. I noticed that within half an

hour I had no pain at all, no redness, and I never peeled. It was

amazing to me that it took the pain away. The following week, when I

needed to work in the back yard again, I applied the coconut oil

before I went out. After working for another six hours or so, I

experienced no sunburn, and no pain, thanks to the coconut oil. In

Polynesia, where the people are out in the hot tropical sun

constantly especially when they travel on the open water-they put

coconut oil on their skin every single day. The oil protects them

from the sun's radiation, and they don't suffer from skin cancer.

 

" This is why coconut oil is a common ingredient in commercial

sunscreens. In addition, lots of people have little precancerous

lesions, and when they start using the oil, they go away. "

 

At last, we have been provided with some sort of explanation of just

how coconut oil qualifies for the title " miracle medicine. " It

contains medium chain triglycerides, and thus might be helpful in

weight loss. You notice I say " might be " because the extent of

his " evidence " is limited to a testimonial from " several people. "

And then, we have a " personal testimonial " about its skin protectant

properties. And finally, a totally unsubstantiated comment that it

protects Polynesians from skin cancer.

 

So, after reading the article, we are faced with the question, " is

coconut indeed a miracle medicine? " In a sidebar to the article, a

list of coconut oil's benefits include the following: " reduces risk

of atherosclerosis and heart disease; reduces risk of cancer and

other degenerative conditions; helps prevent bacterial, viral, and

fungal (including yeast) infections; supports immune system

function; helps control diabetes; helps prevent osteoporosis;

promotes weight loss; helps protect against skin cancer and other

blemishes " . . . and more.

 

Is any of this true?

 

I'm sure many people who read Dr. Fife's article will come away with

the impression that he has provided evidence supporting those

claims. But those of you following my comments in this article

should quickly realize that he provided absolutely no evidence at

all to support these health claims. Aside from some personal

testimonials, all he did was try to convince us that saturated fats

are not as bad as we have been led to believe.

 

In my opinion, articles of this type are an embarrassment to the

nutritional supplement industry. Or, at least they should be. I

consider this type of article to be misleading, if not outright

fraudulent.

 

I'll repeat the question. Is any of this true? Is there any unique

health benefit to coconut oil, either as a supplement or cooking

oil?

 

Based on Dr. Fife's article, if I want to be generous, I can only

say " I don't know. " Given the fact that we have impressive evidence

that oils such as fish oil, evening primrose oil, borage oil, black

current oil, and olive oil are both health promoting and

therapeutic, it is hard to imagine why one would benefit more from

supplementing with coconut oil rather than one of those.

 

If I choose not to be generous, I would have to say " no, there is no

reason to assume any of the claims made for coconut oil are valid. "

Dr. Fife was asked to justify these claims, and he totally failed to

do so. Given this absence of evidence, whether soft or hard

evidence, I see no reason to recommend this product.

 

Yes, coconut oil contains MCT, or medium chain triglycerides. MCT

are found in coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and butter. There has

been speculation as to the value of MCT in several regards, but it's

value is far from proven. It is certain far from " miracle medicine "

status. To put this in perspective, here is what HealthNotes has to

say about medium chain triglycerides:

 

" Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are a class of fatty acids. Their

chemical composition is of a shorter length than the long-chain

fatty acids present in most other fats and oils, which accounts for

their name. They are also different from other fats in that they

have a slightly lower calorie content1 and they are more rapidly

absorbed and burned as energy, resembling carbohydrate more than fat.

 

" MCT have been shown to increase calorie burning compared with other

fats. However, researchers estimate that half of the calories in the

diet would have to be eaten as MCT for significant weight loss to

occur. Obese women on a calorie-restricted diet using MCT for 24% of

total calories, experienced no greater weight loss after three

months, than when regular fat was used. Whether MCT would help

people lose weight on a normal diet has not been adequately studied.

 

" Since MCT is more rapidly used for energy than other fats, some

athletes have been interested in its use, especially during

prolonged endurance exercise. However, no effect on carbohydrate

sparing or endurance exercise performance has been shown, with

moderate amounts of MCT (30–45 grams). Trials using very large

amounts (about 85 grams) have produced conflicting results. One

study found increased performance when MCT was added to a 10%

carbohydrate solution, and another study actually reported decreased

performance, probably due to gastrointestinal distress, in athletes

using MCT.

 

" Because some short-term studies have shown that MCT lowers blood

glucose levels, a group of researchers investigated the use of MCT

to treat people with type 2 (adult onset or non-insulin-dependent)

diabetes mellitus. In nonhospitalized people with diabetes who

consumed MCT for an average of 17.5% of their total calorie intake

for 30 days, MCT did not improve diabetic control by most measures. "

 

(HealthNotes can be accessed via the Willner Chemists web site,

www.willner.com. A link is right in the middle of the home page. For

additional information on MCT, I suggest you access this link.

References are provided. Note that no references were provided in

Dr. Fife's article. Willner Chemists also provides a link to

IntraMedicine, a similar reference database, if you want additional

information.)

 

Am I telling you not to take coconut oil supplements? No. Am I

telling you not to use coconut oil in your diet, or for cooking? No.

Am I questioning whether or not there is any good, or compelling

reason for using coconut oil? Absolutely!

 

I know olive oil is good for you. I know fish oil, flaxseed oil,

evening primrose oil, borage oil and black currant oil are good for

you. Do I know that coconut oil is good for you as well? Do I have

reason to think it is better for you, or more therapeutic, than the

aforementioned oils? No. One thing is for sure–Dr. Fife in his

magazine article certainly gave me no basis for thinking otherwise.

 

Don Goldberg, R.Ph.

 

Willner Chemists

 

Reference: Things you probably didn't know about coconut oil: An

interview with Bruce Fife. The Doctors' Prescription for Healthy

Living, Vol 7, No. 5. (Dr. Fife's book is titled The Healing

Miracles of Coconut Oil.)

 

http://www.willner.com/article.aspx?artid=25