Coconut Oil May Not Be As Healthy As You Think

Coconut oil has become a fever in recent years due to its alleged properties of increasing metabolism and favoring weight loss attributed to the medium chain triglycerides that are part of its composition.

This oil is still known for facilitating the digestion process, promoting hormonal balance and controlling blood sugar rates, ie a number of benefits combined in just one food.

In addition to its health-related properties, coconut oil has many uses in cooking, being excellent for frying and sautéing foods and also participating as an ingredient in cakes and pies.

So far, no news, right? What you may not know is that a few days ago, the American Heart Association published an article discouraging the consumption of coconut oil, as it would not be so beneficial for our body. Is the fad of this food coming to an end?

What the American Heart Association says

The article published by the American Heart Association provides an analysis of various types of foods that are a source of saturated fat, including coconut oil. This type of fat is known to raise "bad" cholesterol. (LDL), which deposits in the arteries and increases the risk of heart problems? and, according to the Association, coconut oil is capable of producing this effect on our body.

Read also: How to choose olive oil at the time of purchase

In addition, the researchers say coconut oil has 82 percent saturated fat, far higher than other sources of fat, such as butter (63 percent), beef fat (50 percent) and lard (39%).

To give you an idea of ​​how large this amount is, olive oil has only 14% saturated fat, while canola oil has 7%. That is, coconut oil would be more harmful to heart health than all these foods, even those famous for being harmful, such as red meat.

Have we been fooled all this time?

Frank Sacks, the head of the research team behind the American Heart Association report, said he did not understand why people generally think coconut oil is healthy. It is almost 100% fat. Perhaps previous studies relating coconut oil to weight loss are responsible for this ?, said Sacks.

One such article was published in 2010 by scientist Marie-Pierre St-Onge, professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University. The researcher herself argues that the belief that coconut oil is a healthy food is partly due to its publication.

"Coconut oil has a higher medium chain triglyceride rate than other types of fats or oils, and my research has shown that consuming these triglycerides can increase metabolism rate more than consuming long chain triglycerides," he explains. St-onge.

Also read: Include olive oil in meals

The problem with this, as the researcher explains, is that the research was conducted with a special oil containing 100% medium chain triglycerides, while coconut oil has only 13% to 15% of these substances in its composition.

Even the study states that a person would have to consume 15 to 30 grams of special oil (with 100% medium chain triglycerides) daily in order to detect an increase in metabolism rate. Does this mean that it would be necessary to ingest too much coconut oil to achieve this effect? As this 2017 article also published by Professor St-Onge shows.

It seems that the confusion over St-Onge's research was well taken advantage of by the food industry, which managed to increase sales of this product thanks to the false belief that it would be a very healthy food.

Does coconut oil have any benefits anyway?

Before you throw your coconut oil away, be aware that it is still a good option for frying. According to Fabian Dayrit, professor of chemistry at the University of the Philippines, saturated fats are more stable for frying foods, so coconut oil is more resistant to degradation under high temperatures, less likely to release free radicals and polymers associated with the development of cancer and heart disease.

Also, according to Sacks, which conducted the American Heart Association's research, coconut oil is a great moisturizer for body and hair."You can put it over your body but not inside it," concludes the scientist.

Read also: The ideal oil for every form of food preparation

Coconut oil may not be as healthy as we think (April 2024)