I’m a nurse with a natural alternatives wellness center in Missouri. I use virgin coconut oil as a foundational product for all of my clients. It is one of the most powerful supplements I have ever worked with. I have been in the healing arts for 30 years and natural approaches for 20 years. Most people I work with are able to use 3 to 4 tablespoons [of coconut oil] per day from the start with amazing results such as improved immune system amd energy level, stabilized blood sugar, improved thyroid function, weight loss, increased mental clarity, and improved emotional/mental stability. In addition to being a wonderful supplement, it is a basic food, which should replace all other oils in the diet. I don’t know of any other product that covers so many bases—and it tastes great too!
Marie
Traditional Tropical Diets
A number of studies on the effects of diets heavy in saturated fat offer evidence that coconut oil helps maintain optimal health and weight levels. For example, Dr. Weston Price, a dentist who conducted a number of studies in the 1930s among Pacific Islanders, spent significant time examining their traditional diets. He looked at their general health, and specifically their dental health, as compared to those eating more modern diets consisting of refined foods.8
Price found that those eating a traditional diet consisting of high concentrations of coconut were in very good health and were not obese, even though they had a very high-fat diet. Those who traded commercially with Western countries and ate more refined foods high in carbohydrates, suffered from common Western diseases, including dental decay.
A study conducted in India by the Department of Medicine, at Safdarjang Hospital in New Delhi compared traditional cooking oils and fats, like coconut oil and ghee (clarified butter), which are rich in saturated fats, with modern oils like sunflower or safflower, which are mostly polyunsaturated, in relation to the prevalence of heart disease and Type-II diabetes. They found that heart disease and diabetes had actually increased after a decrease in the consumption of the traditional oils like coconut oil and ghee. It is generally accepted that weight gain is typically associated with heart disease and diabetes. They concluded that these newer “heart-friendly” oils like sunflower and safflower possess an undesirable ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids. Other similar studies in the region indicate the sole use or excessive intake of these modern vegetable oils can be detrimental.
P.K. Thampan, the former Chief Coconut Development Officer of Coconut Development Board in India, made similar discoveries in his study of traditional cultures consuming large amounts of coconut. In his book Facts and Fallacies About Coconut Oil, Thampan shows that coconut oil consumption is unrelated to coronary heart disease mortality and morbidity, which is contrary to what is taught in many countries. Observations recorded in countries where coconut kernel and coconut oil form major dietary components, have shown a longer life expectancy at birth than in countries with negligible intake of coconut products. There are also instances of longer life expectancy in predominantly coconut-consuming areas than in other places within the same country that eat less coconut.10
Rethinam and Muhartoyo wrote in the Jakarta Post (2003) that before 1950, heart attacks were not common in Sri Lanka. However, hospital admission rates for heart attacks grew dramatically from 1970 to 1992, which might be explained in part by the fact that coconut consumption has gone down from 132 nuts per person per year in 1952 to 90 per person per year in 1991.11
I read the coconut oil article in Women’s World magazine [May, 2003] and decided to give [coconut oil] a try. I have suffered horrible pain and fatigue from fibromyalgia for about ten years. Pain pills weren’t much help and they added to the fogged-brain feeling. Within five days of starting the coconut oil—four tablespoons per day, sometimes more—I was almost completely pain free. [Prior to that] I could not drive more than an hour without being in tears. We just got back from a nine-state, nine-day driving vacation and I drove pain free the entire way. I was never diagnosed with thyroid problems, but had many of the symptoms, and that is much better, too. I have lost 17 pounds within the first ten days on the oil. I cannot say enough about it. I am 60 years old and certainly never expected to get the super results I have received. I truly believe God gave that article in the magazine to me for my health.
Joyce
How did Coconut Oil Get Such a Bad Reputation?
So if coconut oil doesn’t cause heart problems, but, in fact, promotes wellness, where did the notion come from that this ingredient is so very detrimental to our health? The answer involves a brief history lesson.
During World War II, when the Japanese occupied most of the Philippines and the South Pacific, supplies of coconut oil were cut off for several years. Many people were forced to turn to alternative sources of cooking oils, and this is when many of the polyunsaturated oils began to make their way into the marketplace.
Beginning in the 1950s, public opinion towards saturated fats in general, and then later towards coconut oil in particular, began to turn negative. The anti-saturated fat theory began in the 1950s, with the steep rise in heart disease. While heart disease probably caused no more than 10 percent of all deaths in the U.S. prior to the 1920s, by the 1950s it had risen to more than 30 percent. Researchers were looking for the cause of this new threat to health.12
Some researchers suggested that cholesterol levels were the problem, and that saturated fats raised cholesterol levels. One study was based on examining the artery plaques found in American soldiers who had died in Korea. With high levels of cholesterol found in artery plaques, some researchers started looking at cholesterol levels found in various foods as a possible cause. Cholesterol is found only in animal foods such as meat, shellfish, cheese, eggs, and butter. Soon a “lipid hypothesis” was formed stating “saturated fat and cholesterol from animal sources raise cholesterol levels in the blood, leading to deposition of cholesterol and fatty material as pathogenic plaques in the arteries.” The traditional foods such as butter, eggs, and fat from meats were “out,” and the new vegetable oils were seen as heart-healthy replacements.
Research now shows that cholesterol levels in food have little or no effect on blood cholesterol levels. Many researchers have rejected the lipid theory as a cause of heart disease. The cause of the rapid rise of heart disease in the U.S. is now attributed to many factors.
We know that after World War II there were significant changes to conventional diets, including the kinds of fats people began eating. Mary Enig, Ph.D. offers insight to the American diet:
Butter consumption was declining while the use of vegetable oils, especially oils that had been hardened to resemble butter by a process called hydrogenation, was increasing—dramatically increasing. By 1950 butter consumption had dropped from eighteen pounds per person per year to just over ten. Margarine filled in the gap, rising from about two pounds per person at the turn of the century to about eight. Consumption of vegetable shortening—used in crackers and baked goods—remained relatively steady at about twelve pounds per person per year but vegetable oil consumption had more than tripled—from just under three pounds per person per year to more than ten.13
Coconut Oil Becomes the Center of Attack
The saturated fats and cholesterol scare soon began to influence mainstream thinking, and before long certain groups started taking aim at the saturated fats found in coconut oil. At one time coconut oil was a significant part of the American diet. Suddenly, Americans were told to avoid anything with tropical oils—from theater popcorn to packaged snack foods.
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