Posted on 09/03/2023 7:10:44 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
An article describes a study in which mice given an oral supplement of extra-virgin coconut oil developed significant alterations in food intake, weight gain, anxious behavior, and central nervous system, adipose tissue and liver inflammation.
The researchers also found that the capacity of key metabolic hormones leptin and insulin to activate cellular mechanisms responsible for satiety and control of blood sugar levels was impaired, and that the biochemical mechanisms involved in fat synthesis were stimulated.
"The findings suggest that although the process is slow and silent, coconut oil supplementation for long periods can lead to significant metabolic alterations," said Marcio Alberto Torsoni.
Excessive consumption of animal fat is associated with a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as obesity and diabetes. One of the components of this diet is cholesterol, but this type of fat also contains saturated fatty acids, which can activate inflammatory processes via the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) and may lead to disease.
Saturated fatty acids can also be obtained from other sources, such as plants. They account for 90% of the lipids in coconut oil, for example. Although short-chain fatty acids make up a large proportion, and these are beneficial because they reduce inflammation, saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are sufficient to activate inflammatory pathways and cause damage to different kinds of cells.
To find out whether daily consumption of coconut oil for long periods could cause health problems, the research group used an animal model involving healthy mice given a daily dose of coconut oil for eight weeks. This amount of coconut oil was equivalent in calories to about a soup spoonful (13 g) per day, or 5% of the calories from saturated fat in the diet of an adult person of the right weight for their age and height.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Extra virgin olive oil generally seems best.
Coconut Oil is known to be a ‘fatty-fat’ type of plant oil, same as with Avocadoes. A little goes a long ways.
Used as a shampoo scent, coconut oil is too strong of a scent. It is the Pine Sol of natural foods. Impossible to hide and for quite a long time.
Been drinking bullet-proof coffee (coffee w 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp coconut oil) - 2 cups a day for 2 years. No weight gain.
If you have ever lived on a tropical Island where the cuisine revolves around rice, coconut, and pork, you’d not doubt This.
I use it to make popcorn. It works well for the purpose. There’s no coconut odor in coconut oil for cooking. Corn oil, Canola and hydrogenated oils like Crisco just don’t agree with me, they seem to be indigestible. Butter, bacon drippings, beef tallow, and small amounts of coconut oil seem to be safer. Olive oil too, but much of it is counterfeit.
Industrial seed oils are a likely culprit in chronic inflammation.
Does this mean MCT oil is not really good for you?
Hint: how much coconut oil do mice in the wild typically get their paws on?
I am guessing it is junk science.
There are many well-known dietary differences between animals and humans. For example the sugar xylitol is very good for humans and kills dogs.
I am human, and use extra-virgin coconut oil extensively as part of my diet. Over the past 3 years I’ve managed to lose over 50 pounds, with improved health. Dietary experiments of a common human food on mice are inherently suspicious and untrustworthy.
Yep. I’m betting I could swallow a spoon full of coconut oil a day, or three or four, and not gain ANYTHING. But then, I’m not a mouse. And I don’t eat the standard American diet anyways, so most “nutrition studies” mean squat for me!
At this point, they ought to stop referring to nutrition science. It is almost all bogus.
I guess my consumption of two or three Thai, Filipino, or Hawaiian dishes per year dishes per year will be ok. But there sure are a LOT of dishes in those places as well as Jamaica, Sri Lanka and elsewhere.
I never tried coffee that way. The idea of butter in coffee “does not compute” but never say never.
I might consider a drop of Sesame Oil, dusted with a little Curry or Cinnamon.
The dose is the poison.
A 50lb loss over 3 years and on a diet you can easily live with w/o boomerang = Success!
Your reasoning and mine are similar…
I have read that cholesterol research was in some studies done using rabbits. And, me being a country girl who knew that rabbits ate grasses and greens, wondered why it didn’t occur to those researchers that feeding animal fats to herbivores might invalidate their conclusion that animal fats weren’t good for humans.
Furthermore, if we humans had been eating eating animal fats for thousands of years before machines were invented that could manufacture seed and vegetable oils, and managed to hunt, reproduce, and thrive on fatty meats, why all of a sudden were these fatty meats suddenly going to kill us rall off?
This could be rubbish “science. I don’t care all that much about coconut oil. I prefer butter, bacon fat, tallow, and poultry fat.
But others whose ancestry may be farther south than the Scottish highlands, Northern Europe might prefer olive oil or coconut oil. But my thoughts are that these should not be used along with the diet adopted in the last 150 years, which is poisoning us all slowly.
Eat the way your ancestors did back before modern food, and the way they would have eaten when food was plentiful. We all know that when starvation came upon the land, we humans ate whatever we could, even though it wasn’t as good for us as the fat of the land…
Although I’ve used it:
“In multiple studies, MCTs have been found to increase levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite. Because of this, MCT oil has been suggested as a treatment option for older adults and other populations, including those with anorexia nervosa.”
https://www.verywellhealth.com/mct-oil-benefits-side-effects-and-more-7501858
Yikes! Okay, thanks.
Interesting. I weigh 110, so don’t care about weight gain. I use organic coconut oil as a skin moisturizer. So does my niece, but she also cooks eggs in it.
I agree with everything you said in this post.
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