Applying a coconut extract to human Benecits may enhance BCAAs and exercise performance protective Coclnut functions and have an anti-inflammatory effect, says Benefis study. Coconut Oil Benefits Finds Atlantic Coconut Oil Benefits Can Help Your Cholesterol and Shrink Your Waistline A new study finds that people on the Atlantic Diet were less likely to develop metabolic syndrome, a set of risk factors for diabetes, heart disease… READ MORE. The key to understanding this phenomenon lays in the multidimensional ability of the MCFAs to control a variety of physiological processes.

Coconut Oil Benefits -

This is one reason why many people use coconut oil as part of their hair, skin, and oral care routines. Many people find that coconut oil can improve dry skin and lips, and several studies agree. Applying coconut oil topically can help increase skin moisture content and protect your skin from external factors like allergens, chemicals, and other environmental irritants.

Just apply a small amount of coconut oil from the jar to your hands, feet, skin, or lips and allow it to soak in. Some people apply coconut oil to their hair to help improve scalp and hair dryness and to lock in moisture. Some research has found that putting coconut oil in your hair can help strengthen it, reduce breakage, and nourish the strands.

This may be because coconut oil makes hair strands more flexible and less easily breakable. Oil pulling became popular a few years ago and uses coconut oil to improve oral hygiene. It's essentially a process of using coconut oil as a mouthwash, and some evidence supports it.

To practice oil pulling, swish coconut oil around your mouth as you would mouthwash and then spit it out. Some studies have found that it can reduce harmful bacteria in the mouth, which researchers attribute to its lauric acid content.

Other research suggests that it may help reduce plaque and gum inflammation, helping to prevent cavities. However, coconut oil should not replace other dental hygiene practices, like regular brushing and flossing.

Coconut oil is one of the only plant-based fats that forms a solid at room temperature because of its high saturated fat content. Because fat is the macronutrient with the most calories per gram, coconut oil is also very high in calories. There are few nutrients in coconut oil, as most of the vitamins and minerals that naturally occur in coconuts are not transferred to oil during processing.

Below is the nutritional value of 1 tablespoon of coconut oil:. You've probably noticed that coconut oil comes in various forms, and certain products carry different labels. Below are the definitions of the terms you often see on coconut oil products.

Unrefined coconut oil comes directly from the meat of the coconut and is the least processed and unfiltered option. It doesn't undergo any processing to make the final product more hydrogenated, which is a way to convert unsaturated fatty acids into saturated fatty acids.

Unrefined coconut oil has a more pungent coconut smell and flavor. Use it in recipes in which you want to have a strong coconut taste.

It has a smoke point of degrees F, the temperature to which it can be heated before it starts to smoke and degrade.

Refined coconut oil also comes from coconut meat but is further processed to make it better for cooking. After refined coconut oil is pressed from the coconut, it may undergo a few additional steps.

First, it may be combined with a degumming agent to remove gums impurities. Then, it may be neutralized with lye or sodium hydroxide, which acts like soap when combined with the present fatty acids. The free fatty acids are removed during this process, which helps reduce the risk of refined coconut oil becoming rancid.

Refined coconut oil may also be bleached using an activated clay filter to make it whiter and more homogenous and then deodorized to make it odorless and flavorless. After all this processing, refined coconut gains a higher smoke point of — degrees F.

This allows it more culinary versatility than unrefined coconut oil. This label simply indicates that the coconut oil you're getting has not been processed.

Organic coconut oil indicates that the coconuts from which the oil has been derived were grown in compliance with the requirements of organic agriculture. This refers to the use of pesticides and herbicides, soil quality, and additives, among other factors.

If you're looking for coconut oil that has been officially certified organic, meaning it has undergone steps to achieve a formal organic verification through the U. government's National Organic Program, look for products that bear the green and white USDA Organic seal.

Coconut oil may seem intimidating to cook with since it's a solid and not a liquid. However, coconut oil is easy to use in recipes. Coconut oil will melt when heated.

To use it for sautéeing, add a small amount to your skillet and allow it to liquefy. Then, add the ingredients you want to cook just as you would if using another plant oil. Just be careful not to heat it over its smoke point, which varies if it is refined or unrefined.

In most baked goods recipes, coconut oil can be used as a 1-to-1 replacement for butter. Additionally, you can melt coconut oil in a pan or the microwave and then drizzle it over cooked popcorn as you would melted butter.

Some people add a small amount of melted coconut oil to their coffee. You can also combine coconut oil with melted chocolate or peanut butter before freezing it into candy molds.

Coconut oil will harden when cold, leaving you with solid chocolate candy for later. Coconut oil is derived from the meat of coconuts and its uses range from culinary to personal care. It has a very high saturated fat content, most of which are medium-chain triglycerides and lauric acid, and is high in calories.

The two main types of coconut oil are refined and unrefined, which have undergone varying degrees of processing and have different uses in cooking. While people have used coconut oil for many health purposes, it is best suited for use as an antimicrobial mouthwash, as an emollient to improve dry skin, and as an agent to strengthen hair.

While some evidence suggests that coconut oil may offer benefits for things like skin, hair, and oral health, it's not meant to replace other daily hygiene practices like brushing your teeth. The evidence for coconut oil as a healthy food is lacking. Given the research behind saturated fat intake and heart health, it's best to use it sparingly in your diet.

Instead, try using it to improve dryness on your skin, lips, and scalp, strengthen your hair, and complement your oral health routine. Coconut oil is almost entirely saturated fat. Based on a 2,calorie diet, this would equate to calories from coconut oil, which you would get from less than 2 tablespoons of it.

It also means that you would need to limit other sources of saturated fat in your diet, such as animal products. While there is no standard for coconut oil scalp treatments, most people leave it on the scalp for 10—30 minutes at a time.

Coconut oil is almost entirely made up of saturated fat. This is because high intakes of saturated fat have been associated with adverse effects on heart health. Until there is more clarity around this association, keeping your overall saturated fat intake within these limits is best.

American Heart Association. Saturated fat. Dietary Guidelines. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Mumme K, Stonehouse W. Effects of medium-chain triglycerides on weight loss and body composition: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

J Acad Nutr Diet. Bueno NB, de Melo IV, Florêncio TT, et al. Dietary medium-chain triacylglycerols versus long-chain triacylglycerols for body composition in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

J Am Coll Nutr. Hewlings S. Coconuts and health: different chain lengths of saturated fats require different consideration.

J Cardiovasc Dev Dis. Boateng L, Ansong R, Owusu WB, et al. Coconut oil and palm oil's role in nutrition, health and national development: A review.

Ghana Med J. Widianingrum DC, Noviandi CT, Salasia SIO. Antibacterial and immunomodulator activities of virgin coconut oil vco against s taphylococcus aureus.

Liang C, Gao W, Ge T, et al. Lauric Acid Is a Potent Biological Control Agent That Damages the Cell Membrane of Phytophthora sojae. Front Microbiol. Verallo-Rowell VM, Katalbas SS, Pangasinan JP. Natural mineral, vegetable, coconut, essential oils and contact dermatitis.

Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. Vaughn AR, Clark AK, Sivamani RK, et al. Natural oils for skin-barrier repair: ancient compounds now backed by modern science.

Unlike saturated fats, unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. They can improve blood cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation, among other cardiovascular benefits. Unsaturated fats are predominantly found in vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and fish.

And last year the American Heart Association AHA released a scientific advisory statement recommending the replacement of saturated fats in the diet, including coconut oil, with unsaturated fats. In their statement, the AHA cited and discussed a review of seven randomized controlled trials, in which coconut oil was found to raise LDL cholesterol levels.

The rationale behind the AHA recommendation is that consuming unsaturated fats in place of saturated fat will lower "bad" LDL cholesterol, and improve the ratio of total cholesterol to "good" HDL cholesterol, lowering the risk of heart disease.

One tablespoon of coconut oil comes close to that limit, with about 12 grams of saturated fat. With such salient evidence supporting the replacement of saturated fat, including coconut oil, with unsaturated fat for optimal cardiovascular health, where do the myriad health claims for coconut oil come from?

This is not the coconut oil available on supermarket shelves. MCTs have a shorter chemical structure than other fats, and are quickly absorbed and metabolized by the body, which is thought to promote a feeling of fullness and prevent fat storage. However, the coconut oil found on most supermarket shelves contains mostly lauric acid, which is absorbed and metabolized more slowly than MCT.

As a result, the health benefits reported from specially constructed MCT coconut oil cannot be applied to regular coconut oil. Interestingly, lauric acid itself has also been purported to have health benefits. While lauric acid has been shown to increase LDL cholesterol levels, it also raises HDL cholesterol levels, suggesting a potential heart-protective role of coconut oil.

However, large epidemiological studies have failed to report protective associations between lauric acid and cardiovascular disease. Findings from epidemiological studies that report low rates of cardiovascular disease among populations who consume coconut oil as part of their traditional diets in India, the Philippines, and Polynesia, for example have also been cited as support for the health benefits of coconut oil.

However, in these studies many other characteristics of the participants, including background, dietary habits, and lifestyle, could explain the findings. Based on the current evidence, coconut oil is neither a superfood nor a poison. Rather, its role in the diet falls somewhere in between.

Coconut oil has a unique flavor and is best consumed in small amounts, as a periodic alternative to other vegetable oils like olive or canola that are rich in unsaturated fat. This dietary choice should be made in the context of an overall healthy dietary pattern, and within the recommended limits for saturated fat intake.

Vasanti Malik, ScD , Contributor. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.

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Notice Oi privacy Competitive seed prices at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital Coconut Oil Benefits More. Oll Some of my friends are raving about the Oul benefits of coconut oil Bwnefits coconut milk, and adding them into their diets. I always thought coconut contained a "bad" fat so how can it be good for me? A: Coconut products are growing in popularity because of purported weight loss and health benefits including fighting heart disease, cancer, and immune disorders. Coconut oil is extracted from the coconut flesh for information on coconut milk, see Not Got Milk?