Many of us are bewildered by the studies that have been released regarding fats. In the 90’s we were told that fats well, make us fat – so we all went on low fat diets believing that this will reduce our cholesterol and make us look like supermodels. In more recent years we have been advised that we need some fats (good fats) and to reduce our carbohydrate intake as it was the excess carbs that were making us fat. And more recently we have been told that we should eat carbs – but only the ones with low GI. Confused? – Well you should be.
Weight Management
Lets take a look at fats. You may be under the mistaken belief that if fats are solid then they are saturated fats – and they’re the bad ones. – Wrong! Different fats become solid at different temperatures. And coconut oil becomes solid at between 23°C – 26°C. So if you live in a tropical country then coconut oil is almost always liquid. Leading scientists now recognise that there are good fats and bad saturated fats just as there is good and bad cholesterol.
Coconut oil has a unique property which makes it an ideal addition to any weight management program. A study conducted on a population, where coconut oil is a staple, showed that metabolic rates of people living there were 25% higher than in comparable test subjects. An increased metabolic rate is a key to healthy weight management and may account for the leanness of people living in areas where coconut oil is consumed on a daily basis. Coconut oil yields fewer calories than any other oils such as vegetable oils, which tend to get stored as fat. The Medium Chain Fatty Acids actually speed up metabolism so we can more efficiently burn the calories we eat.
The Technical Stuff
Fats are classified as short, medium, or long-chain, based on the number of carbon molecules they contain. Nearly two-thirds of the saturated fat in coconut oil consists of medium chain fatty acids. When we eat long-chain fatty acids, they must be emulsified by bile salts in the small intestine before they can be absorbed into our body. Short and medium-chain fatty acids, such as those in coconut oil, are absorbed directly through portal vein to the liver, where they are immediately available to the body. In other words, most of the saturated fat in coconut oil is easily digestible and converted into quick energy. And these types of fatty acids are less likely to cause obesity because they are immediately used by the body and have no opportunity to be stored.
Ancient History
Coconut oil has been used by the inhabitants of tropical nations for thousands of years and has been utilised as a valuable source of both food and medicine. Wherever the coconut palm grows the people have drawn on its many properties. In the traditional medicine of many of these cultures the coconut is used to treat a wide variety of health conditions.
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