Rumors
Coconut oil, as a cooking oil and beauty product, has attracted much attention in recent years due to the promotion of some fitness bloggers and celebrities. Coconut oil is advertised as being well absorbed, does not accumulate fat, and helps**;It does not contain cholesterol, raises the body's "good" cholesterol, and is beneficial to cardiovascular healthHigh vitamin E content, moisturizing**, beauty. Are these true?Is coconut oil really worthy of being admired?
Analytics
What exactly is coconut oil?Why is it touted?
After we bought the coconut and drank the coconut water, we could see that the inner wall of the coconut had a thick, white coconut flesh. Scoop a spoonful and put it in your mouth, it is fragrant and soft. Due to the high fat content of coconut meat, the oil can be extracted from it, which is what we call coconut oil.
Coconut oil is sought after by the marketIt is mainly due to the fact that it contains medium-chain fatty acids, lauric acid and vitamin E。And beauty and ** are the pursuit of most women. If there is a delicious food that can achieve this effect, it will definitely be favored by female friends.
Is coconut oil really a healthy oil?
The ** of this statement comes from the fact that coconut oil is rich in medium-chain fatty acids mct. These fatty acids are considered to be able to break down and absorb quickly due to their relatively short carbon chains (8 12 carbons), so they can provide energy quickly without accumulating fat. Other commonly used vegetable oils are mainly long-chain fatty acids, which are easy to accumulate fat.
Why is there such a big difference between medium-chain fatty acids and long-chain fatty acids?
In principle, medium-chain fatty acids and long-chain fatty acids are metabolically a bit like two different routes to work. Imagine that long-chain fatty acids are a regular office worker, and after they are absorbed by the small intestine, they have to take a bus from the lymphatic system to reach the subway station where the blood circulates first. Medium-chain fatty acids are like a chic bicycle rider, you can directly ride a bicycle into the highway of blood circulation, saving the trouble of waiting for the bus, and it is naturally much faster.
Because medium-chain fatty acids are fast for cyclists, they can quickly reach the liver, the "energy factory", and convert them into energy to supply our daily needs. Theoretically, medium-chain fatty acids are less likely to make us fat, and it's more of a diligent energy provider. On the contrary, long-chain fatty acids are the norm for office workers, and once they consume too much, it is easy for them to "settle down" in our adipose tissue, allowing us to gain weight unconsciously.
ScienceDirect (author's translation).
However, the principle is the principle, whether medium-chain fatty acids can really be **, the current research results are not consistent. While some studies have found that they can increase satiety and reduce eating, and some studies have found that medium-chain fatty acids may help reduce waist circumference and body weight, others have found no significant effect. Therefore, although medium-chain fatty acids have a good prospect for **, more high-quality studies are needed to verify it.
Even if it is confirmed that medium-chain fatty acids are beneficial in the future, this does not mean that coconut oil can**. Because,Coconut oil ≠ pure medium-chain fatty acids.
USDA Food Database (Coconut Oil).
Although there are 54% of medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil, lauric acid (C12), which accounts for the majority of them, is metabolized in a similar way to long-chain fatty acids because of its long carbon chain. At present, the research on the help of medium-chain fatty acids is basically based on C8 and C10, which may play a role in the real sense, but only 12%.
That is to say,Coconut oil has very few fatty acids that help "**.
Moreover, coconut oil itself is 99% fat and super high in calories, 100g of coconut oil contains 895kcal of calories, similar to other vegetable oils. Relying on coconut oil**, the fat may not have been lost, and a lot of fat has been gained.
There are two main claims about reducing cardiovascular morbidity: coconut oil is rich in medium-chain fatty acids, which can increase the content of "good" cholesterol (HDL), which is beneficial to the health of blood lipids. In addition, coconut oil is free of cholesterol and trans fatty acids, which is good for preventing cardiovascular disease.
Introduction to a brand of coconut oil on an e-commerce platform.
But,Does coconut oil raise "good cholesterol"?
Actually,Coconut oil is not only not good for heart and blood health, but it can increase the risk of heart disease. The content of saturated fatty acids in coconut oil is more than 80%, which is much higher than that of butter, lard, etc.
2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for American Residents (8th Edition).
Let's take a look at a weighty review.
A systematic review published in March 2020 in Circulation, a top blood journal, revealed the true health effects of coconut oil by pooling data from 16 clinical trials.
1) Compared to other cooking oils, coconut oil significantly increases blood levels of "bad cholesterol" LDL and total cholesterol, both of which are strongly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Coconut oil increases HDL (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) levels, but high levels of HDL do not counteract the harmful effects of LDL and do not necessarily reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
In other words, although it can bring good sides, it can bring more bad effects.
In 2017, the American Heart Association (AHA) clarified in "Dietary Fat and Cardiovascular Disease".Oppose the consumption of coconut oil.
Official website of the American Heart Association.
Seeing this, you may not care about what is or is not included in the advertisement, after all, the conclusions of experimental research are far more important than the propaganda.
In order for you to see the truth, I will tell you about 2 more bugs in the publicity. The coconut oil mentioned in the promotion does not contain cholesterol and trans fatty acids, but this claim is self-defeating if you know a little about nutrition.
Because,Almost all vegetable oils are cholesterol-free. Not only coconut oil, but also vegetable oils such as soybean oil, olive oil, corn oil, etc., do not have cholesterol. In addition, it is generally difficult to produce trans fatty acids from natural vegetable oils (except for hydrogenated or refined vegetable oils) if they are not refined.
So it's a bit unkind to advertise in this way.
The claim that coconut oil is good for skin care and beauty comes from the antioxidant vitamin E contained in it. This is how it is described in the coconut oil promotion article:
The antioxidant properties of coconut oil play a vital role in reducing visible signs of aging thanks to its vitamin E content. These antioxidants help neutralize harmful free radicals that can cause oxidative stress, leading to premature aging such as wrinkles and fine lines.
By fighting these free radicals, coconut oil helps to keep **healthy, energetic, and youthful.
But actually,Coconut oil is not high in vitamin E.
Judging from the data, coconut oil is more than common vegetable oils.
Data from: USDA Food Database.
What are the real advantages of coconut oil?
Coconut oil is also not worthless.
Coconut oil has a large amount of saturated fatty acids, which are structurally stable and resistant to high temperatures compared to unsaturated fatty acids. SoIf you want to fry deeply, coconut oil is indeed a good choice.
However, because coconut oil also contains unsaturated fatty acids, it is best to fry it shallowly, and it is not recommended to use it for repeated frying.
Conclusion
Coconut oil is not as magical as the legend says, and there are 3 things to sum up:
1. Although it contains medium-chain fatty acids, only 12% may be beneficial to **, so **not necessarily, but eating too much as fat will definitely gain weight.
2. It can raise cholesterol but cannot offset the negative impact of excessive saturated fatty acids on cardiovascular disease.
3. It contains almost no vitamin E, don't expect it to be used for antioxidant skin care and beauty.
So, if you want to fry food, coconut oil is a good choice, but if you want to rely on it, beauty and skin care, etc., don't expect too much.
References: 1]Sacks FM, Lichtenstein Ah, Wu Jhy, Appel LJ, Ceager MA, Kris-Etherton PM, Miller M, Rimm EB, Rudel LL, Robinson JG, Stone NJ, Van Horn LV; american heart association. dietary fats and cardiovascular disease: a presidential advisory from the american heart association. circulation. 2017 jul 18;136(3):e1-e23. doi: 10.1161/cir.0000000000000510. epub 2017 jun 15. erratum in: circulation. 2017 sep 5;136(10 ):e195. pmid: 28620111.
2]food composition databases show foods --oil, coconut [internet]. food composition databases show foods. *ailable from:
3] Yang Yuexin, Ge Keyou. The 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Chinese Nutritional Science (Volume I)[M].People's Medical Publishing House, 2019
4]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. 2015 feb;115(2):249-263. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2014.10.022. pmid: 25636220.
5]assunçao, monica l., et al. "effects of dietary coconut oil on the biochemical and anthropometric profiles of women presenting abdominal obesity." lipids 44.7 (2009): 593-601.
6]valente, flávia x**ier, et al. "effects of coconut oil consumption on energy metabolism, cardiometabolic risk markers, and appetitive responses in women with excess body fat." european journal of nutrition 57.4 (2018): 1627-1637.
7] Hong Kong Department of Health. Controlling Cholesterol: Eating Heart Health Tips to Boost You.
8]p.g. roopashree, shilpa s. shetty, n.Suchetha Kumari, Effect of Medium Chain fatty acid in human health and disease, Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 87, 2021, 104724, ISSN 1756-4646, Curator丨Zhong Yanping.
Edited by Wang Ti and Liu Yantong (intern).
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