Coconut Oil: Not As Healthy As You May Think

To date, there are over 1,500 studies proving coconut oil to be among the healthiest foods on the planet. But the American Heart Association recently did a research and came up with a list of both good fats and bad fats; surprisingly coconut falls among the bad ones.

“Scientific studies, which reduced intake of saturated fat and swapped it with polyunsaturated vegetable oil, lowered cardiovascular disease by about 30 %; similar to cholesterol-lowering drugs, referred to as statins,” The American Heart Association said in a presidential advisory.

These professionals stress the word replace. This means that they don’t just mean cutting the bad fats. Instead, they emphasize adding the good fats, like soybean, corn, and peanut oil.

Why Shouldn’t I Eat Coconut Oil?

The discovery that coconut oil- which comes from a tree- isn’t actually healthy surprises many people.

“Numerous researchers found that coconut oil, which is predominantly saturated with fats but widely regarded as healthy – increased LDL cholesterol just the same way as the other saturated fats contained in palm oil, butter, and beef fat.” explained the American Heart Association advisory that was published in the journal Circulation.

“All fats are a mixture of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.” The Heart Association stated that polyunsaturated fats lower the risk of heart diseases the most, and then followed by monounsaturated fats. However, Saturated fats are the least desirable.

Saturated fats are common in tropical oils such as coconut and palm oil. And this is enough reason for you to reduce the intake of coconut oils.

Health Impacts

This is the contrary of what you require for healthy arteries and heart.

Another older study found that coconut oil dramatically decreased endothelial functioning and impaired the antioxidant capacity of (HDL) cholesterol for at a minimum of 6 hours after consumption.

This implies that the person who eats such a meal regularly would raise their risk of suffering from heart problems.

One tablespoon of coconut oil, (weighing about 13g), contains about 113 calories and is 100 percent fat.

This report points out facts that are important to most industrialized countries, where heart disease is a larger threat.

“In 2014, approximately 808,000 people in America died of stroke, heart disease, and other cardiovascular diseases, translating to almost one of every three deaths,” The Heart Association emphasized.

American College of Cardiology and The Heart Association also advise anybody with questionable cholesterol readings to reduce intake of saturated fat to just 5 % of their total calories.

“Saturated fat also cause of cardiovascular disease and artery-clogging plaque.” Says Dr. Frank Sacks, who is the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Professor of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.

We have been told over and over that plant products – such as coconut oil – are much healthier than animal products. Randall Isenberg, DWI lawyer and founder of the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg, notes that an important thing to remember is, “Not all products that come from the plants are safe for consumption.”

Melissa Thompson

Melissa Thompson writes about a wide range of topics, revealing interesting things we didn’t know before. She is a freelance USA Today producer, and a Technorati contributor.