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Does Coconut Oil Lower Cholesterol

Coconut Oil Does Help You Feel Fuller For Longer

Is Coconut Oil Bad for Your Cholesterol?

Although coconut oil may not be as healthy of a food as most people think, it does have some health benefits, namely its ability to keep you fuller for longer, which might help with weight loss.

Fats are more calorie-dense than most foods, so eating them during meals may help you stay satiated compared to eating a carb-heavy meal. Increasing your MCT intake may also help curb your hunger.

However, you certainly shouldnt add it to everything thinking its the magical fat for weight loss and health, says Lisa DeFazio, a registered dietitian nutritionist based in California.

What Is Mct Oil

MCTs are medium-chain triglycerides, a form of saturated fatty acid. They are also sometimes called MCFAs for medium-chain fatty acids.

  • What is MCT oil made of? Its a pure source of fatty acids. MCTs get their name because of the length of their chemical structure. All types of fatty acids are made up of strings of connected carbon and hydrogen.
  • Fats are categorized by how many carbons they have: Short-chain fats have fewer than six carbons, medium-chain fats have between six to 12 carbons and long-chain fats have between 1321.
  • Compared to longer-chain fatty acids, MCTs are absorbed more easily since theres less work for the body to do breaking apart carbon bonds. MCTs are smaller, so they can permeate our cell membranes more easily and dont require that we use special enzymes in order for our bodies to utilize them.

What does MCT oil do to make it a top source of healthy fats? Medium-chain fats are digested easily and sent directly to your liver, where they have a thermogenic effect and the ability to positively alter your metabolism.

This is one reason why many people say that MCTs, including coconut oil, are burned by the body for energy, or fuel, instead of being stored as body fat.

Is Frying With Coconut Oil Bad For You

When used correctly, coconut oil is an excellent choice . Researchers demonstrate that even when deep frying continuously for 8 hours at 365F , its quality maintains that level. The saturated fatty acids in coconut oil help the oil maintain its high emulsifying oil-density, making it more heat-resistant than other oils.

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Can It Help With Weight Loss

Many people think so. A quirk of MCTs like the ones in coconut oil is that your body processes them slightly differently than other dietary fats. Youre more likely to burn off their calories than convert them to body fat. So eat spoonfuls of coconut oil and watch the fat melt away, right? Not so fast.

Coconut is high in calories. You cant just add it to your diet without cutting back elsewhere and expect to lose weight, Young says. You definitely dont want to think of it as a freebie food that you can eat as much of as you want.

Continued

Is Coconut Oil Good For Cholesterol

Coconut Oil And Cholesterol  Is Coconut Oil Good for ...

Yes, coconut oil is really good for cholesterol. We know, cholesterol is of two types- good HDL and bad LDL cholesterol. Coconut oil raises the level of good HDL cholesterol and lowers the level of bad LDL cholesterol in blood. HDL cholesterol reduces the risk of heart disease. Thus, we may say that intake of coconut oil reduces the heart disease.

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Types Of Healthy Fat In Oils

Heart-healthy oils like canola, corn, olive, peanut, and sunflower oils contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. They help to lower harmful low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and raise healthy high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Each has its own unique flavor, as well as properties that are better suited to different types of cooking and individual recipes.

Using a range of oils in your diet can help to give you a variety of healthy nutrients.

The two types of oils here are named on the basis of their chemical structure:

  • Monounsaturated fats have one unsaturated carbon bond in the molecule. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends MUFAs make up 15 to 20% of total daily calories. These fats are found only in plants and are a good source of vitamin E.
  • Polyunsaturated fats have more than one unsaturated carbon bond in the molecule. They are found in plants and fish such as salmon. PUFAs have vitamin E and high levels of omega-3 and/or omega-6 fatty acids, essential for brain function and cell growth.

Omega-3 fatty acids are healthy fats that help reduce inflammation and prevent plaque in the arteries. Good sources of omega-3s include avocado, canola, flaxseed, olive, peanut, sunflower, and walnut oils.

There are two main factors to consider when choosing the best cooking oil for the job:

Incorrect Interpretation Of A Study

In 2008, one study made people think that coconut oil might be healthful. In this investigation, 31 people consumed MCT oil or olive oil during a 16-week weight loss program.

The team found that the body processes MCT oil, such as coconut oil, differently from other oils. They concluded that MCT could have the same impact on CVD risk factors as olive oil.

Some people interpreted this to mean that if MCTs can have a positive effect on HDL and total cholesterol levels, coconut oil must be healthful.

However, the original study did not use coconut oil, but a special oil that was 100% MCT. The MCT content of coconut oil is around 14% . Butter is about 9.2% MCT.

A person would have to eat 150 g, or 10 tbs, of coconut oil each day to get the benefits. Consuming this much oil would not be healthful.

The Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting the intake of saturated fats to 10% or less of total calories. For those monitoring their cholesterol, the AHA recommend a maximum of 5-6% .

Most studies that show positive health benefits use MCT oil, not coconut oil. Studies supporting coconut oil have often been short term, small scale investigations involving animals rather than humans. The results have not been significant enough to warrant advising people to switch to coconut oil.

Research supporting a switch to unsaturated fatty acids has produced more reliable results.

Here are some tips for buying, storing, and using coconut oil:

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Table : Change In Ldl Cholesterol

We also measured HDL, so-called good cholesterol. Butter and olive oil both raised HDL by about 5%, but coconut oil raised it by around 15%. So our results showed that coconut oil increased HDL cholesterol more than olive oil and butter.

Because HDL helps remove LDL, the more good cholesterol you have compared to bad, the better for your health.

Heart Uk Says Bbc Coconut Oil Claim Not To Be Trusted

Coconut Oil For Cholesterol Reduction – Does Coconut Oil Reduce Cholesterol

HEART UK are very concerned regarding the latest coverage of coconut – See article here. The idea that consuming coconut oil lowers cholesterol made by the BBC programme Trust me Im a Doctor, is both misleading, unhelpful and not to be trusted.

The majority of respected scientific evidence shows that the saturated fats in coconut oil raise the bad cholesterol and the very limited experiment in the programme is misleading viewers to believe that coconut oil has beneficial effects on cholesterol.

HEART UK is delighted to see that the media are encouraging the use of olive oil and discouraging the use of butter because of their effects on blood cholesterol.

Coconut oil, unlike most vegetable oils, is solid at room temperature and is 85% saturated fat which when compared to butter at 52% and lard at 40% saturated fat puts it into context.

Some have argued that coconut oil contains a large amount of medium chain fats which are metabolised differently however the predominant fats in coconut oils are Lauric acid, Myristic acid and Palmitic acid all of which are classified as long chain saturated fats and all have been shown to raise the level of damaging LDL cholesterol in the blood.

Small variations in cholesterol resulting from changes in diet can be difficult to demonstrate due to the variability in many factors including:

Background
References

Fat and Fatty Acid Intake and Metabolic Effects in the Human BodyAnn Nutr Metab 2009 55:162172 DOI: 10.1159/000229001

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The Health Benefits Of Mct Oil

There is research to suggest benefits from MCT oil, including weight loss, appetite suppression, cognitive function, decreased cholesterol, lower risk of cardiovascular disease, lower levels of insulin resistance, and improved Alzheimers symptoms, Wooten says. But all of this comes with a caveat. These are small studies, and the research on MCT oil is still quite young and not conclusive enough to recommend MCT oil yet, says Wooten, adding, though, that MCT can be beneficial for people with health issues like epilepsy and those with certain fat absorption disorders.

Take, for instance, weight loss, one of the most common reasons people take MCT oil. In one study from the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition comparing MCTs to LCTs, MCTs resulted in greater increases in leptin and PYY, or peptide, which increases feelings of satiety and fullness, Flanagan says.

Brain health is another reason people are flocking to MCT oil, and heres why. The brain prefers glucose as its fuel source. Because Alzheimers patients show reduced glucose metabolism in the brain, ketones, which are molecules produced when the liver breaks down large amounts of fat, can act as an alternative fuel source for the brain, Flanagan says.

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Health Concerns Of Saturated Fat

Diets high in saturated fat are linked with a higher risk of heart disease. Saturated fat is known to increase low-density lipoprotein — the “bad” cholesterol. When LDL builds up in your blood, it sticks to the inside of arteries, causing them to become hard rather than pliable warns the American Heart Association. Your heart works harder to keep blood moving, adding unnecessary wear and tear on your heart muscle.

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How Much Mct Oil Should You Take

Its best to take MCT oil spread out throughout the day, in doses of about one tablespoon per meal . One tablespoon is generally about 15 mL of MCT oil.

Consuming too much MCT oil too quickly can lead to digestive symptoms including stomach pain, diarrhea, and bloating, so its best to work your way up more slowly.

Many people want to know how to use MCT oil without getting this common stomach discomfort. It often happens when we add a larger amount of any fat to our diet that we are used to. These digestive system issues can be easily resolved by slowly increasing your dose of MCT oil over time.

Try just a teaspoon in your morning coffee for a week or two and see how you do. If you do not have any digestive symptoms, then increase your intake by ¼ ½ of a teaspoon each week until you reach your desired amount. Dont go over about 1 tablespoon per serving.

When using MCT oil as a dietary supplement, the daily dose should not exceed 100 mL per day. Seven tablespoons a day is the limit for digestive tolerance in most people .

Exercise As Much As You Can Whenever You Can

Does Coconut Oil Lower Cholesterol?

People who took up aerobic exercise such as jogging, running and biking for 12 weeks saw their HDL increase by 4.6 percent, their triglyceride levels fall by 3.7 percent and their LDL levels drop by 5 percent, a February 2014 review published in the journal Sports Medicine found.

“Exercise also has the benefit of increasing your HDL, which is very hard to do either through other lifestyle changes or through medications,” Dr. Steinbaum explains.

The AHA recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week. But to get even better results, you need to ramp it up a bit. One study cited in the Sports Medicine review, for example, found that while people who got moderate exercise lowered their LDL, the best results were seen in those who stepped it up a notch and jogged about 20 miles a week.

It’s also important to add resistance training into the mix . Women between the ages of 30 and 60 who did two one-hour weight-training sessions a week for three months showed a reduction in total cholesterol, triglycerides and a boost to HDL cholesterol compared to a control group, according to a small March 2015 study published in Revista médica de Chile.

If you have time to add some yoga or meditation into the mix, do so. People who regularly practiced yoga had lower LDL cholesterol and higher HDL cholesterol than those who didn’t say “ommm,” a December 2014 meta-analysis in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology found.

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Coconut Oil And The Boost In Hdl Good Cholesterol

Written By Michael Greger M.D. FACLM on January 28, 2021

The effects of coconut oil were compared to butter and tallow. Even if virgin coconut oil and other saturated fats raise LDL bad cholesterol, isnt that countered by the increase in HDL good cholesterol?

According to the experience and wisdom of 200 of the countrys leading experts in cardiovascular diseases, in a report representing 29 national medical organizations, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, weve known for nearly half a century that coconut oil is one of the most potent agents for elevating serum cholesterol level. As I discuss in my video Coconut Oil and the Boost in HDL Good Cholesterol,studies showing coconut oil elevates cholesterol date back to 1955, when it was first shown experimentally that switching someone from coconut oil to soybean oil could drop cholesterol from around 200 down to 150, as you can see at 0:39 in my video.

Coconut oil can significantly raise cholesterol levels within hours of consumption. In fact, a significant increase in blood cholesterol was found within hours of eating a slice of cake made from either coconut oil , but not from the same cake made from flaxseed oil.

I love topics that give me an excuse to talk about scientific concepts more generally, like various study designs in my video Prostate Cancer and Organic Milk vs. Almond Milk or my discussion of direct versus indirect risk factors in this one.

How Is Mct Oil Used

Many people take MCT oil in capsule form, swallowing it with water like any other pill. Others opt for a liquid or powdered form they can add to foods and drinksMCT oil is odorless and flavorless, so it mixes well into smoothies and coffee, Jones says. MCT oil is one of three key ingredients in keto coffee , which also includes grass-fed butter.

Some home cooks use MCT oil in recipes like salad dressings and no-bake energy bites. Cooking with MCT oil generally isnt recommended, Jones notes. Its low smoke point means that above 300°F degrees or so, the fat can oxidize, altering its chemical structure and resulting in an off taste.

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Setting And Study Population

This study was conducted at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Review Committee, Faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University, Thailand, and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice.

Inclusion criteria for volunteers were healthy male or female, age from 18 to 25, no history of allergy to coconut oil and/or carboxymethylcellulose , not taking any medications, having all related biomedical parameters in the normal range, ability to provide informed consent and willingness to take VCO and 2% carboxymethylcellulose solution as per protocol, and agreement on follow-up for the duration of the study. Exclusion criteria included volunteers unwillingness to have their biomedical parameters assessed and being pregnant. A total of 35 Thai healthy volunteers were recruited. The participants were free to decide whether to volunteer for the study and written informed consent was obtained from all volunteers before starting the study.

What Is Coconut Water

Does Coconut Oil Have High Cholesterol? Dr. Berg

Coconut water is not the milky fluid you get when you crack open a whole coconut. The sort you purchase at the supermarket is a mature coconut, brown and hard with dry brown fibers across its rough surface inside there is a thick layer of coconut meat that can be eaten fresh or dried. Coconut water is extracted from young, green coconuts, long before they have reached maturity and the grocery store shelves. They are the fruit of the coconut palm tree, and are grown in most places that boast a tropical climate.

Naturally sterile from being housed in the fruit, coconut water is often drunk where grown by inserting a straw into a hole in the shell. In America, we can purchase coconut water in glass bottles, cans, Tetra-Paks and plastic bottles, and it has almost invariably been pasteurized. But are all the claimed benefits genuine?

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Saturated Fat And Ldl

In its Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease Presidential Advisory, the American Heart Association noted that 72 percent of Americans consider coconut oil to be a healthy food.

But in reviewing more than 100 studies, including data showing that coconut oil increased LDL cholesterol, researchers saw no difference between coconut oil and other saturated fats like butter, fatty meat and palm oil.

Furthermore, the American Heart Association has advised against the use of coconut oil because of its ability to increase LDL cholesterol.

Is Coconut Water Good For You

We have a thirst for trendy drinks. And now, grocery stores nationwide are sporting refrigerator cases of coconut waters. Is coconut water good for you? Does it have saturated fat? Coconut Water Facts

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