Coconut Oil: Good or Bad?
I have routinely come across article upon article talking about the practically endless health benefits of coconut oil, from being the best fat to use for cooking, to oil-pulling for whiter teeth. However, occasionally, the odd article damning the practice of cooking with coconut oil as very unhealthy would catch my attention. One such article jumped out at me earlier today and got me thinking. Basically the whole healthy vs unhealthy question centres around the issue of coconut oil's saturated fat content.
The fatty acids which make up the oils we eat and cook with generally fall into one of three categories: saturated, unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
It has long been hammered into us, both openly and subliminally, that saturated fats are 'bad' and will clog your arteries, cause your cholesterol levels to go stratospheric, and ultimately give you a heart attack and kill you. So, quite naturally, the knee-jerk reaction has been to cut saturated fats out of our diet, and replace them with 'healthier alternatives'.
Coconut oil is made up of around 82% saturated fat (butter is at around 63%, by comparison). The anti-coconut camp therefore argues that it can cause an increase in 'bad' cholesterol - cue clogged arteries and inevitable death - and so should be replaced by plant oils, which are seen as healthier options. Olive oil, for example, has been around the circuit for longer than coconut oil, and its health-promoting claims are backed by a far greater number of research studies.
Basically the whole healthy vs unhealthy question centres around the issue of coconut oil's saturated fat content.
Now, I am in no position to dispute the hard science behind this argument (more on that in another post), but I do take issue with the claim on two key points:
It has been, I think quite categorically, proven that when it comes to cooking with oils, those with high levels of saturated fatty acids are the best choice for cooking at high temperatures due to the fact that saturated fatty acids pack tightly together, and are thus very stable even when exposed to heat and light. On the contrary, polyunsaturated acids are unstable and should therefore not be used for cooking at high temperatures as they can produce high levels of harmful toxins, in the form of free radicals, when exposed to heat. By these standards, coconut oil is a perfectly viable option for cooking, and is akin to butter and ghee. Indeed, coconut oil has a high smoke point, and can withstand temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius.
Much like medical practitioners have been becoming increasingly 'specialised', choosing to focus on one particular part of the body, often to the detriment of other parts (which, in turn, are to be looked after by other specialists), the saturated fat and coconut oil claim is being looked at in isolation, under a microscope. As I said, I will not dispute the hard science. Let us accept that saturated fats raise the level of LDL (bad) cholesterol, and that unsaturated fats not only lower LDL, but increase HDL (good) cholesterol. How can this prompt such a 'zooming-in' on just this one element of a person's diet? How can we talk about the saturated fat in coconut oil and not mention refined carbohydrates and processed foods? If you continue eating the latter but cut out the former, will your arteries still breath a sigh of relief?
The stance against coconut oil also fails to take into consideration the potential difference between saturated fats themselves. I'm no scientist, but I can't quite believe that the saturated fat in coconut oil is as bad as that in cakes and biscuits, for example. Indeed, there has been a fair amount of hype on this very point: that the saturated fat found in coconuts (called medium-chained triglycerides) is healthier. However, it must be mentioned that not enough 'hard science' is available to back this up yet. But what we do know is that saturated fat is divided into various types, according to the number of molecular carbon atoms, and approximately 50% of the saturated fat in coconut oil is the 12-carbon variety: lauric acid.
In the body, lauric acid gets converted into a potent anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal substance, to which many pathogens are susceptible. In fact, lauric acid is one of the ingredients of breast milk, and protects babies from infection by strengthening their immune system. One preliminary study even suggests that lauric acid may have cancer-killing properties. Medium-chain triglycerides, such as lauric acid, possess a specific chemical structure which allows the body to absorb them whole, making them more digestible.
There are even suggestions that while most saturated fats contribute to an increase in cholesterol, medium-chain triglycerides may in fact help lower cholesterol levels, and as such may help reduce the risk of atherosclerosis (which is caused by the build-up of cholesterol-induced plaque on the arterial walls).
Furthermore, it is clear that nutrient-dense coconut oil comes with a host of potential health benefits, mainly as a result of its lauric acid content, but it also contains some poly- and mono-unsaturated fats, which bring additional benefits. Virgin coconut oil is also rich in antioxidants, with high levels of polyphenols and flavonoids.Conclusions
Everything in moderation, and a place for everything.
Few foods are truly all-good or all-bad, especially foods in their natural state - it is less a question of if they are consumed but rather a question of how they are consumed: how much, how often, combined with what?
Something which has been less processed cannot be as bad for you as something 'healthier' which has undergone far more processing. For instance, I will never be convinced that slathering a piece of bread with man-made, highly-processed, plastic-tasting margarine, is a healthier option than using a smaller amount of good quality, full-fat, ideally organic butter. Indeed, Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride, a firm proponent of saturated fats (especially in the context of a gut-healing diet) makes this point clearly in her book 'GAPS: Gut and Psychology Syndrome': "Vegetable oils, cooking oils, margarines, butter replacements, spreadable butter, hydrogenated oils, shortenings and many other artificial fats are processed; they are alien to human physiology and must not be consumed by anybody, let alone GAPS patients."
Research your oils. Pour your chosen vegetable oil on your salads, drizzle it over veggies, grains, use it to marinade meat, whatever, but don't go beyond lightly sautéing with it. For more detailed information you can find my current favourite guide to cooking oils here.
If you're making an effort to eat more carefully and healthfully, then do your homework. Just as we have learned to opt for cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil, let's opt for virgin or extra-virgin, unrefined, unhydrogenated coconut oil, and use it as PART of our diet. It is ultimately an energy-dense food and as such should be used in moderation.