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Health Benefits of Coconut Oil Leave a comment

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Coconut meat, water, and oil all provide significant health benefits. The oil, in particular, is lately gaining new acceptance as a superfood. By using the coconut oil, you can get some serious health benefits.

MCFA

For a long period of time, health professionals discouraged people from consuming too much coconut oil for its rich content of saturated fats. While it is a 90% saturated fat, that’s actually not a bad thing, coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that can improve your health in many ways. MCFA contained in coconut oil is special because these fatty acids do not have a negative effect on cholesterol. Furthermore, it is very easy for our body to digest the MCFAs, much easier than other oils. Plus, these helpful fatty acids can be instantly converted into energy instead of being stored in your body as fat. It is also rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Lauric Acid

The presence of lauric acid should take much of the credit for many health benefits of coconut oil. When it is present in our body, lauric acid is converted into monolaurin, a compound which is very toxic to viruses, bacteria, funguses and other microorganisms because of its ability to disrupt their lipid membranes and virtually destroy them. Human breast milk naturally contains lauric acid, otherwise, coconut is the only way to add it in your diet, thus our body will not be able to produce monolaurin if we don’t have lauric acid in our body.

Health Benefits

Weight Loss

Medium-chain fatty acids found in coconut oil can boost metabolism faster than long-chain fatty acids because they can be easily digested by our body and converted into energy.

Cholesterol

In a weight loss study, women who consumed coconut oil every day witnessed an improvement in their cholesterol levels. The level of HDL(good cholesterol) increased while the level of LDS(bad cholesterol) decreased for these women. Other who consumed soybean oil saw the opposite result.

Antioxidant

Coconut oil is rich in anti-oxidants and teeming with the natural microbial and antibacterial agents. Its great ability to smooth the skin and at the same time infuse our body antioxidants makes it an excellent moisturizer of great aging-resistant property. Besides, another antioxidant contained in coconut oil, vitamin E, is very popular for speeding up the recovery of skin abrasions, burns and other trauma.

Acne

The antimicrobial property of coconut oil can also be utilized to help you prevent and heal acne. Lauric acid in the coconut oil is thought to be the compound which can produce this effect. Not only it can survive digestion intact and enter the bloodstream, but also it is attracted to the oil glands in your skin and help kill the bacteria there. Bacteria in your oil glands is what causes the outbreak of acne.

Damaged Hair

Protein loss from hair causes it to become weakened and then damaged. The result is your frizzy and dry hair. In a study that compared the application of mineral oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil to hair, the latter gave greatest performance. Coconut oil greatly reduce the protein loss in damaged hair, as well as hair that was still healthy, thus demonstrate its greater ability to penetrate hair shafts than other oils.

Alzheimer’s condition

This devastating illness that afflicts some people as they age has resisted traditional medical treatment. A doctor in Florida, however, has recognized that one promising drug for treating the condition was nothing other than medium-chain triglycerides, a type of fat, from coconut oil. She treated her own husband, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, with coconut oil. It slowed the procession of the condition and even reversed some of the symptoms.

Energy

Fats that contained in the common fatty foods are made up of long chains of carbon. While fats in coconut oil are medium chain fatty acids, or MCFAs. MCFAs do not need to be digested by the liver and gall bladder. By consuming coconut oil, you get energy a lot faster.

Other Benefits

In addition to the above reasons to use coconut oil, it may also protect against HIV and other infectious conditions, provide the body with antioxidants to fight degenerative conditions, help regulate hormones, relive the symptoms of chronic fatigue, strengthen the liver, regulate thyroid function, and boost your immunity.

How Much To Consume

According to researchers, an adult should consume around 3 1/2 tbsp. of coconut oil daily. For people who don’t have coconut in their diet regularly before, it’s better to start with a lesser amount, and before actually following the recommended amount they should check how their body reacts. It is not suggested to start with a large amount right away.

Side Effects?

There are no known side effects in adding coconut oil to our diet. In countries where coconut are produced, consuming coconut oil is considered beneficial for pregnant and lactating women. However, people in western countries who are used to a low-fat diet should take caution to use coconut oil while pregnant, so that their body can get used to it.

In general, coconut oil is perfect for cooking because it withstands high temperatures without heat damage, and it can be used topically in a number of ways, including as a lotion, deodorant, eye-makeup remover, hair gel, and to deal with any sort of skin issue, If you have been consuming coconut oil regularly with no adverse reactions, there is no reason to discontinue consumption. If you switch your cooking oil to organic coconut oil, you can start improving your health right away.

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