Why Coconut Oil Deserves Your Respect (and Your Body Deserves Coconut Oil)

Digestion:

• The unique health benefits of coconut oil are directly related to its chemical structure, or more precisely, the length of its fatty acid chains.

• Coconut oil is comprised of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), also called medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs. Coconut Oil is nature’s richest source of these healthy MCFA’s.

• By contrast, most common vegetable or seed oils are comprised of long chain fatty acids (LCFAs), also known as long-chain triglycerides or LCTs.

- LCFAs are difficult for the body to break down -- they must be packaged with lipoproteins or carrier proteins and require special enzymes for digestion.

- LCFAs put more strain on the pancreas, the liver and the entire digestive system

- LCFAs are predominantly stored in the body as fat. (That's why most people buy into the myth that fats are automatically "fattening".)

- LCFAs can be deposited within arteries in lipid forms such as cholesterol.

• On the other hand, however, the MCFAs in coconut oil are healthier, because:

- MCFAs are smaller. They permeate cell membranes easily, and do not require lipoproteins or special enzymes to be utilized effectively by your body.

- MCFAs are easily digested, thus putting less strain on your digestive system. This is especially important for those of you with digestive or metabolic problems.

- MCFAs are sent directly to your liver, where they are immediately converted into energy rather than being stored as fat.

• The medium chain fats in coconut oil are so nutritious that they have been used in baby formulas, and in hospitals to feed the critically ill, those on tube feeding, and those with digestive problems.

Supporting your immune system:

• Coconut Oil’s Natural Miracle Ingredient: Lauric Acid the same compound as mother’s milk, and lauric acid is the predominant type of MCFA in coconut oil

• Lauric acid in both breast milk and coconut oil transforms when consumed into a substance called monolaurin, the actual compound with a powerful anti-microbial function that enables and destroys harmful bacteria, fungi and lipid-coated viruses such as HIV, Influenza virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), measles, Influenza virus, Pneumonovirus, Rubeola and more.

• Internationally many clinical tests are being conducted on the decrease in viral load for HIV patents with positive results. See for more info in the below links

• Coconut oil is exceptionally helpful for pregnant women, nursing moms, the elderly, those with digestive problems or metabolic diseases like diabetes, athletes (even weekend warriors), those who are fighting infectious or chronic degenerative diseases, those with thyroid disease, and those who just want to prevent disease.

Reducing your risk of heart disease:

• According to Mary Enig, Ph.D., US’ leading expert on fats and oils:

"Coconut oil has a unique role in the diet as an important physiologically functional food. The health and nutritional benefits that can be derived from consuming coconut oil have been recognized in many parts of the world for centuries. A review of the diet/heart disease literature relevant to coconut oil clearly indicates that coconut oil is at worst neutral with respect to atherogenicity of fats and oils, and in fact is likely to be a beneficial oil for prevention and treatment of some heart disease. Additionally, coconut oil provides a source of antimicrobial lipids for individuals with compromised immune systems, and is a non-promoting fat with respect to chemical carcinogenesis."

Cooking

• The only oil that is able to withstand heat-induced damage. (frying with other oils – especially those containing omega6 - destroys the antioxidants in oils and as such oxidizes the oils and causes cross-linking, cyclization, double-bond shifts, fragmentation and polymerization of oils that cause far more damage than trans fats.

Body Care:

• Excellent and yummy – as I am sure that you agree by now.

• The anti microbial properties are also effective when coconut oil is applied to the skin

Processing:

There are several ways that cold pressed virgin coconut oil (VCO = Virgin Coconut Oil) is processed from the raw coconut.

I will not go into too much detail, as each process most probably has their pro and contra

1. Pressed from the fresh coconut, the liquid stands for about 48 hrs (fermentation and separation of milk and oil; then two are separated with some very slight heating process involved (below 38C)

2. The copra (flesh) of the coconut is dried and then pressed to expel the oil;

3. Pressed from fresh coconut and then the oil and liquid (water and milk) are separated via centrifugal force. My brother states that the centrifugal process creates forces up to 3G and this destroys the life force in the oil. We rather go traditional.

NUI Coconut way:

• The copra is broken up into large chunks and dried (rather than other drying processes which break the copra into very small pieces to dry quicker) and dried with minimal heat; a traditional cork screw press is used to extract the oil; the oil is then filtered at 1 micron the filtering process is key to the creaminess, the flavor and the good smell as well as the long shelf life (does not go rancid as the moisture control and particle with NUI is very high)