Is Coconut Oil a 'Superfood' or 'Pure Poison'?

Recent guidelines from the American Heart Association warn that coconut oil is not a healthy food, despite popular claims that it's a miracle worker. Learn why in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Lauren vocal bomb here. Just a couple of short years ago,
it seemed that coconut oil could do no wrong practically
of nowhere. It was being touted incessantly as a super
food thanks to claims that it helps burn fat and
curbs hunger, among other impressive feats. Just recently, however, a

(00:23):
Harvard professor fired the metaphorical shot heard round the world
by saying that coconut oil is and I quote, pure poison.
This came not too long after the release of updated
guidelines by the American Heart Association, which urged people to
steer clear of saturated fatty acids, among them coconut oil.
The leap from super food to pure poison is pretty big,

(00:45):
like Grand Canyon big. So where does the truth lie?
Not surprisingly, it's somewhere in the middle, and could even
change again once more research is done. We spoke via
email with Melissa madjum Dar, a registered dietitian and spokesperson
for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She points out that,
despite popular and prevalent claims to the contrary, currently there

(01:06):
is insufficient evidence to rate the effectiveness of coconut oil
in helping with issues like diabetes, weight loss, crones disease,
irritable bale syndrome, and thyroid problems. She explained, many of
the health claims have been blown out of proportion and
are not yet validated. At the end of the day,
coconut oil may have some beneficial properties that were still exploring,
but it's still a fat and should still fit onto

(01:28):
our plate in moderation. Much of the confusion lies in
our scientific understanding of how coconut oil operates. A tablespoon
of coconut oil has the same number of calories as
other oils like olive and canola, that is about a
hundred and twenty. However, it also has thirteen grams of
saturated fat, which is six of the recommended daily dietary

(01:49):
allowance of saturated fat in just a table spoon. That
was why people watching their cholesterol were advised to stay
away from it in the past. In the last decade
or so, some people began reclassify and coconut oil as healthy.
Here's why. The proponents said that coconut oil has medium
chain triglycerides or m c t s, unlike most other
oils which have long chain triclyas rides. Let's break that down.

(02:12):
Medium and short chain triclys rides are more quickly absorbed
and sent into circulation in the body than long chain
triclas rides. A two thousand three study has shown that
m c t s can speed up your metabolism, which
helps you lose weight, while another study showed that m
c t s prevent hardening of the arteries, which lowers
risk of heart attack and stroke. However, these studies were

(02:32):
done with oils that were pure m c t s
and not with coconut oil, which is only partially composed
of m c t s. According to mudgum Dar, there's
controversy over whether coconut oil behaves like a medium or
long chain triclys ride. This distinction could be something of
a moot point. However, since the body doesn't process coconut
oil the way it would other oils containing m c

(02:53):
t s, mudgum Dar said, what we do know is
coconut oil is majority composed of a fatty acid called
loric SID, which contributes to both elevated HDL the good cholesterol,
and elevated l d L the bad cholesterol, and is
therefore not a great idea for anyone battling high cholesterol
or the family history of heart disease. Most folks should

(03:14):
be aiming to get twenty five to thirty five percent
of their total calories every day from fat. Madjum Dar,
like most nutritionists, urges people to limit their daily saturated
fats to seven to of that. Not surprisingly, it doesn't
take much coconut oil to hit that marker. Madgum Dar
notes coconut oil is more like butter calorie and fat
wise than other oils. As a rule of thumb, the

(03:37):
healthy fats are the ones that are liquid at room temperature,
not solid. Instead of using coconut oil, looked to fats
like canola or olive oil. A tablespoon of canola oil
has one gram of saturated fat that's five percent of
your recommended dietary allowance, while a tablespoon of olive oil
has two grams that's nine percent off your recommended dietary allowance.
As to whether madgum Dar agrees with the Harvard professor

(03:59):
who vilified coke and oil, she said, I can't think
of a food I would call poison. There's no food
I'd want people to be afraid of. But I wouldn't
put coconut oil in the healthy corner. We will say, though,
that while it may not be a health food, coconut
oil is great for moisturizing your skin and soothing wounds
and irritations. Today's episode was written by Alia Hoyt and

(04:23):
produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots
of other nutritive topics, visit our home planet has stuff
works dot com