The Skinny on Coconut Fat

Photo by axiepics.

In response to Sally’s comment in the Reader requests, “Just wondering what your thoughts are on coconut fat. I’ve heard mixed things”, here’s my take on coconuts and saturated fats in general.

There are several different ways to classify fats and to understand coconut fat, it is important to overlay 2 of them.  Much the same way as an orange is both citrus and a fruit with both tags referring to different aspects and benefits.

Coconut oil is classified as both a saturated fat and a medium chain fatty acid.

The saturated component means that the oil is very stable even when heated, won’t go rancid, and is solid at room temperature.

The medium chain component means that the oil is metabolized very quickly for energy as a pose to being stored as fat.  It also has immune boosting properties (lauric acid  is an antiviral made from coconut extract, heres a link to the one I use)

Saturated fats are very good to cook with especially compared to less stable vegetable oils (yes, including olive oil). If you generally cook with olive oil at high heat you may notice how it can smoke relatively quickly if you turn up the heat.  Saturated fats have a significantly higher smoke point, which makes them very stable against oxidation from heating.  When an oil is heated up to the point of smoking, it turns carcinogenic releasing tons of free radicals.  When coconut oil is heated it releases a wonderfully fragrant smell, which to me sometimes smells like sun screen & the beach.  Here is a fairly long article in the Cambridge Journal about the harmful effects of oxidized oil.

I should probably write a separate article on why saturated fats are necessary and good for you.  However here are some quick points.  Nutritional pioneer Dr. Weston Price discovered through studying traditional diets that those who favored whole foods and saturated fats (which if you think about it were so easy to acquire versus the volume of farmed vegetation needed to make oil from safflower, olive etc) were significantly healthier than those who did not.  If you only own one book on nutrition get Nourishing Traditions, which has all this information in an easy to digest format with tons of recipes.

Saturated fats (including cholesterol) are very important to us biochemically.  Think about this; we are animals and the fat in our bodies is saturated.  So what about eating what we are?  Wait, that sounds a little cannibalistic, what I meant was feeding ourselves the raw materials which make up our most basic building blocks (and how fortunate for those choosing a vegetarian lifestyle that there is this option for these building blocks in the vegetable kingdom).

Going back to the fact that coconut oil is also a medium chain fatty acid.  I mentioned that this type of fat is quickly metabolized as energy.  This phenomenon, which may seem hard to believe, is actually beneficial for weight loss!  There is tons of research on this, if you’re interested here are a couple of  links to  Pubmed.

Get your coconuts before Virgin Atlantic does!  In an innovative experiment Sir Richard attempted to make biofuel out of coconuts to power a Boeing 747!

Here’s 10 pages of gluten free recipes containing coconut parts from Elena’s Pantry.  Or just go get some Thai coconut curry takeout if you’re lazy.  Or just dream about both if you’re me.

Again, everything in moderation or you’ll turn into a coconut.

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.