| What Type of Coconut Oil Should I Consume?
We recommend true virgin organic coconut oil, and here’s why: Virgin coconut oil is made from fresh coconut meat and retains the odor and many nutrients of the fresh coconut. Coconut oils that don’t smell like coconut are at the very least deodorized, which is accomplished by heating the coconut to very high temperatures, like 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This process kills some of the nutrients like vitamin E. Any coconut oil that is made from copra, which is the dried (not fresh) coconut meat, must be purified in order to be made suitable for consumption, because copra is not generally dried in a sanitary way. So copra-derived coconut oil is heated to high temperatures as well as typically filtered through (bleaching) clays to remove impurities. Many modern methods use chemical solvents as well to extract more oil from the copra. Some coconut oils are hydrogenated and hence contain the bad trans-fatty acids – you want to avoid these oils!
For those that do not like the taste
of coconut oil, or really need a
more cost effective way to consume
large quantities of coconut oil,
look for a high quality refined organic
coconut oil that did not use any
chemicals in the processing and contains
no trans-fatty acids. |
What about extra-virgin or raw coconut oil, is that better?
Not
necessarily – there is no
official distinction between virgin
and extra virgin coconut oil, like
there is with olive oil. Virgin
coconut oil, even if is called “raw”,
does not contain enzymes that cannot
be heated – if it did, it
would not keep well on the shelf
for 2 – 3 years. Furthermore,
temperatures in shipping trucks
routinely reach 125 degrees F.
during the summer, and temperatures
inside the drums of coconut oil
in the shipping containers that
bring the coconut oil to America
are often even higher than that.
So even if a company claims that
their process does not heat the
oil, it most probably was heated
to at least 125 to 130 degrees
F. before you received it, regardless
of the processing method.
Does cooking with coconut oil cause harmful trans-fatty acids?
No – coconut oil, like
other saturated fats, is a very
stable oil even at higher temperatures.
However, as with any oil or fat,
you never want to heat it up
to the smoking point. Just make
sure you don’t buy a hydrogenated
or partially hydrogenated coconut
oil – that will have trans-fatty
acids in it to begin with. In
fact, the way saturated fat is
maligned still today probably
comes from a study using hydrogenated coconut oil that caused problems
for study participants.
Do people ever experience
any side effects or ill effects
when first starting to use
the virgin coconut oil?
Yes, sometimes. People who are used to a low-fat diet, or people who are generally unhealthy might experience more side effects. There could be some “die-off” effects as the coconut oil does contain high levels of lauric acid which is a strong anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent. As these microbes are killed and eliminated from the body, they can cause temporary side effects like diarrhea. For this reason, especially if you have candida or parasite problems, you may want to start out slow.
Also, like any food, some people may be allergic to coconuts or (more rarely) coconut oil. Keep in mind that coconut oil has been safely used by millions of Asians for thousands of years.
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