The fatty oil obtained from the coconut and used in confections, candies, food, and in cosmetics, is referred to as coconut oil. A saturated fat is a type of fat in which fatty acid chains have all or predominantly single bonds. Fat is made up of two kinds of smaller molecules, glycerol and fatty acids. Coconut oil and palm kernel oil have high saturated fat content. Many foods are prepared in high saturated fat content, such as sausage, dairy desserts and pizza. Many medical organizations have advocated for reduction in the intake of saturated fat to promote health and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Here Ian Sample, The Guardian, science editor, reflects on the subject of coconut oil:

“For certain health food shops and well-being sites it is the panacea that helps everything from bad hair and mental grogginess to obesity and hemorrhoids. But the carefully-crafted image of coconut oil as a cure for many ills has been roundly rejected by a Harvard professor.

Karin Michels, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan school of public health, poured scorn on the superfood movement and singled out the fad for coconut oil in particular, calling the substance “one of the worst things you can eat” that was as good for wellbeing as “pure poison”.

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Michels made her comments in a recent lecture entitled “Coconut oil and other nutritional errors” at the University of Freiburg, where she holds a second academic position as director of the Institute for Prevention and Tumour Epidemiology. The speech, delivered in German, has now been watched nearly a million times on YouTube.

Michels based her warning on the high proportion of saturated fat in coconut oil, which is known to raise levels of so-called LDL cholesterol, and so the risk of cardiovascular disease. Coconut oil contains more than 80% saturated fat, more than twice the amount found in lard, and 60% more than is found in beef dripping.

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Last year, the American Heart Association reviewed the evidence on coconut oil among other foodstuffs. While three quarters of the US public considered coconut oil to be healthy, the review noted that only 37% of nutritionists agreed. The authors attributed the gulf in perception to the marketing of coconut oil in the popular press. “Because coconut oil increases LDL cholesterol, a cause of CVD, and has no known offsetting favourable effects, we advise against the use of coconut oil,” the review concluded.”

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Article Source: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2018/aug/22/coconut-oil-is-pure-poison-says-harvard-professor