is coconut oil healthy? commentary on recent news

is coconut oil healthy? commentary on recent news.

first of all, we don’t debate or convince or argue on any points. however, we’ve had several clients and people that we work with bring this recent article up, so we thought it was worth addressing, because there seems to be genuine concern over it.

check out the original article here:

Coconut oil isn’t healthy. It’s never been healthy.

well USA Today has never been healthy either. we can’t think of a worse place to get your news in general, let alone your health and nutrition information.

the American Heart Association does NOT have your best interest at heart.

it’s funded by big pharma, big food, and earns millions if not billions of dollars each year selling it’s heart check logo to the most unhealthy foods on the planet.

LDL is not “bad” cholesterol. it’s a carrier for nutrients and necessary in the body.

LDL is Low Density Lipoprotein and comes in many sizes, many packages, and serves important roles inside the body.

LDL measured thru a standard lipid panel tells us how much cholesterol is being carried by the LDL particles. it does NOT tell us how many particles are in the system.

what we should be looking at is how many LDL particles are in the system. this is an accurate predictor of cardiovascular disease.

metabolic syndrome drives cardiovascular disease.

what is metabolic syndrome?

large waistline.
high triglyceride level.
low HDL cholesterol.
high blood pressure.
high fasting blood sugar.

cholesterol serves many important roles inside the body.

it’s present in every cell, every cell makes it.
it facilities proper cell wall function, facilitates the transfer of nutrients across the cell membrane, and maintains rigidity of the membrane for proper hormone receptor function.
it is the nutrient needed for synapses to form properly – our thinking, learning, and neural pathways depend on it.

total cholesterol doesn’t mean much at all.

if we look at standards of excellence across the world we would see total cholesterol levels anywhere from 160 – 260 and above – with no signs of CVD.
as we’ve already mentioned, LDL can be high or low, it really doesn’t matter.
the best predictor for CVD from a standard lipid panel would be total cholesterol / HDL < 4.0.

MCT’s are not the only thing healthy about coconut oil.

some of the MCT’s in coconut oil can be used for immediate energy, moving the body away from dependence on sugar and glucose. the brain in particular does well on these MCT’s.
eating saturated fat over the long term actually raises HDL and improves standard lipid panel numbers over time.
coconut oil has antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties, which may be beneficial against pathogens.
it helps your body absorb fat soluble nutrients. your body requires the presence of fat in order to absorb fat soluble nutrients. consuming coconut oil with meals helps you absorb these important nutrients.