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29 Amazing Benefits of Coconut Oil

29 Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

 

Coconut is a SUPER FOOD that has been rising in popularity as more and more health benefits and curative abilities are unveiled. Coconut oil, which is the fatty portion of the coconut, produced from the white meat of the coconut, is the most remarkable component of this so called “nut.” For years coconut oil was pushed into the shadows because of poor and badly designed scientific studies that told us margarine was good and saturated fats like butter and coconut oil were bad. They said saturated fats would clog your arteries and give you a heart attack. Of course, they had to eventually step forward and correct themselves. As it turn out, coconut oil is one of the most heart and cardiovascular protective foods available in nature. The benefits of coconut oil and its miraculous ability to heal have been proven in abundance, while at the same time, showing to be as harmless as purified drinking water.

29 Amazing Health Benefits of Coconut Oil


1. Increased energy and metabolism

Fat is the most energy dense molecule and coconut oil is of the medium-chain variety, allowing your body instant access to it as an energy source. Coconut oil also kick starts and optimizes your entire body’s metabolism. Coconut oil increases metabolism in normal weight individuals by 48% and 65% in obese!

2. Antioxidant

Another one of the many benefits of coconut oil is its ability to protect the body against the aging effects of free-radicals roaming the body.

3. Allergies and Sinus Infections

Put some in the nostrils, tilt head back and let drain into the sinuses (some will trickle down back of throat) to provide allergy and sinus infection relief within minutes to hours.

4. Chronic fatigue

Marked increase in those suffering from persistent low energy. Coconut oil is especially growing in popularity among sufferers of hypothyroidism who are seeing an increased rise in energy and system functions.

5. Cancer

Clinical studies and anecdotal evidence have shown significant decrease or remission of cancer by the use of approximately 3.5 tablespoons of coconut oil or around 12 ounces of coconut milk ingested daily.

6. Deodorant

This natural deodorant does not require any kind of special recipe. All you need to do to enjoy this benefit of coconut oil, is to spread a thin coat against the skin of your under arms (and any other area you think may require some help).

7. Liver Cleansing

Clinically shown to reduce the cholesterol accumulation in the liver which would normally affect how well the liver is able to clean and purify your blood… and therefore your body. Chalk up one more highly significant health benefit of coconut oil.

8. Hair & Dandruff Control

Massaging coconut oil into the scalp not only eliminates dandruff but nourishes hair. It can bring back the color to your gray hair, increase fullness and provide a healthy luster to your hair. Simply massaging the scalp and coating the hair after a shower is an effective coconut oil hair treatment.

9. Dental Health & Cavities

Whether using as “toothpaste” or in “pulling,” benefits of coconut oil also include decreasing cavity-causing bacteria and bad breath while increasing the mouths ability to heal sores and inflammation (such as gingivitis).

10. Appetite Control

When eaten with a meal, coconut oil benefits you by allowing you to feel satiated (feeling full or hunger being satisfied) quicker and longer. This translates to eating less calories and desiring to snack less between meals. Put that together with coconut oil increasing your metabolism and you have an almost effortless weight loss solution.

11. Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency

Coconut oil allows for better absorption of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K), it decreases vitamin B deficiency and improves calcium metabolism and overall bone health. It can prevent rickets. Treating and preventing mineral and vitamin deficiencies is just one more of the potent benefits of coconut oil.

12. Skin Rejuvenation

Coconut oil is remarkable for skin health. Coat your body in it and watch it work its wonders. It nourishes the skin, activates cell metabolism for toxin removal and clears bacteria that can cause acne. This curative oil helps treat any skin ailment, prevents stretch marks while pregnant (or from other weight gain) and speeds healing of wounds.

13. Malnutrition

Coconut oil (in some form) is still used in hospitals, especially in underweight, malnourished infants. It is also used in feeding tubes and IV nutrition to treat critically ill patients.

14. Super Breast Milk

Mother can take coconut oil which enters the breast milk and allows the mother to pass MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides) along to the infant, providing superior nutrition. Works remarkable well to help underweight babies start growing to full, healthy weights.

15. Thyroid Kickstart

The oil from a coconut can kick start the thyroid gland and is evidenced by an increase in body temperature by about 1 to 2 degrees (hypothyroidism sufferers are usually 1 degree below the normal 98.3). Try it out thyroid sufferers. Just prepare to take off a layer or two when the energy factories in your cells start burning double time.

16. Pain & Inflammation

Pain and inflammation from either injury or arthritic conditions can be significantly reduced. Regular use often allows sufferers to return to previous physical activities. Topical application alone works wonders and ingesting a teaspoon or more daily only adds benefit.

17. Immune Boost

A natural and powerful immune system booster. Conditions such as chronic skin fungus, bladder infections and flu can be treated with success, sometimes as quickly as 12 hours (depending on amount taken and the individual).

16. Topical Skin Cure

Warts, insect bites, wounds, acne, sunburns and just about any other condition that disrupts normal, healthy skin.

17. Gut Health by Fiber

An excellent source of fiber. Shredded coconut is actually 71% fiber. Provide yourself with all the benefits that excellent colon health provides by supplementing with both shredded coconut for fiber and coconut oil for clearing out bad bacteria. Improved colon health is definitely one of the key benefits of coconut oil.

18. Kidney Protection

Animal studies have demonstrated renal (kidney) protective effects of coconut oil in mice induced with kidney failure. For individuals with diabetes this can help prevent, delay or help reverse diabetic nephropathy. Coconut oil also helps regulate blood sugars. Diabetics should, without a doubt, supplement with coconut products. Garlic would a fantastic partner to buddy up with as well.

19. All Viruses, Including AIDS/HIV

AIDS / HIV, hepatitis C, herpes, mono, etc. A lot of clinical data on coconut oil in AIDS treatment was demonstrated in clinical studies conducted in the Philippines.

20. Sunscreen (While Still Allowing Vitamin D Production)

Tropical natives use coconut oil everyday to protect their skin from the sun. The oil still allows UV rays to penetrate the skin, allowing skin cells to synthesize the very important Vitamin D, while at the same time providing superior skin protection against damage caused by excessive sun exposure.

21. Heart Health

Coconut oil is an excellent super food for cardiovascular health. The incidence in cardiovascular disease in cultures that eat coconut daily are nearly non-existent. Far from the unfounded past claims that coconut oil clogs arteries and causes coronary heart attacks. Quite the contrary.

22. Parasites

Tapeworms, lice and giardia? No problem. Coconut oil and these health invaders don’t play nice and coconut wins every time. Internal cleansing of parasitic infestations is just one more of the uses for coconut oil.

23. Bacteria Colonization

The amazing oil of coconut not only helps heal systemic bacterial infections but it also kills off bad gut bacteria, like Candida Albicans, that causes yeast infections. While killing bad bacteria it preserves the good bacteria that nourish us by providing us with b-vitmains, vitamin k and other nutrients necessary for our health.

24 . Ulcers

Peptic ulcers, mouth ulcers and even skin ulcers can be effectively treated with coconut oil. Besides increasing healing time and metabolism, coconut oil also kills the main cause of peptic ulcers… the nefarious stomach bacteria Helicobacter Pylori.

25. Canker Sores

Did you know that canker sores (different from cold sores) are associated with hemolytic streptococcus bacteria. Our prized tropical “fruit” (as referred to as by island natives) eliminates this source bacteria, decreases sore pain and aids in healing much faster.

26. Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), crohns disease and ulcerative colitis are alleviated with daily consumption of coconut oil. Sometimes a week or two of treatment must pass but steady improvements will eventually be made with significance.

27. Gall stones

When bile acid accumulates and becomes backed up it can precipitate into hardened crystals known as gall stones. Gall stones can disrupt metabolism ducts, inhibit fat metabolism and cause significant pain. Sometimes surgery and removal of the gall bladder is required. Coconut oil safely dissolves gall stones and returns the gall bladder to normal function.

28. Acne and Eczema

Coconut oil for acne? Doesn’t oil clog pores? Remember how we discussed the unique property of coconut oil being shorter in length? This allows for easy absorption and utilization by cells, fueling metabolism centers to rid itself of toxins, while at the same time killing the bacteria causing acne and improving skin quality.

29. Detoxification

Coconut oil is one of the most powerful detox foods that is available to us by nature. Just by taking it every day can help detox your system from the inside out.  However a simple, yet powerful method of detox using coconut oil is referred to as “oil pulling.” Coconut oil pulling is done by putting coconut oil in your mouth and swishing it around for up to 20 minutes (if possible). There are an abundant amount of toxins that can be drawn out from your oral mucosa. The coconut oil absorbs these toxins. When finished, you spit out the oil and the toxins it had soaked up in your behalf!

What Kind Do I Buy?

Make sure you that you buy extra virgin coconut oil that is USDA certified as organic such as Viva Labs #1 Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. I tend to buy for price, ease and convenience on Amazon.com with the free, two-day shipping that Prime membership affords but if you don’t order from an online retailer, Trader Joe’s (if you have one by you) has an excellent product. Also Costco’s Kirkland Signature has a good reputation for quality as well.

Understanding the Reasons Behind the Benefits of Coconut Oil

As science progresses we have reversed a lot of ill-fitted claims due to bad science. Margarine, a hydrogenated vegetable oil that mimics the texture and taste of butter, was once heavily promoted over butter. Butter was supposed to clog our arteries and give us heart attacks. Margarine was supposed to be the “healthy” alternative. As it turns out margarine and hydrogenated oils are a disaster to our cardiovascular health and many saturated fats such as butter and coconut oil are being shown to actually be beneficial to our health. Coconut oil is supremely unique in comparison to most saturated fats and the structural reasons for this offer the amazing health benefits it provides. Did you know there are different kinds of saturated fats?

Yup, we’ll try not to get too much into the structural anatomy of fats BUT… quickly, saturated fats are built from chains of carbon (resembling a caterpillar) with hydrogen atoms attached to them (the legs of the caterpillar). The links chaining the carbon backbone together can be single or double bonds.

Saturated fats have no double bonds between the carbon backbone, they are all single bonds and therefore have more room for hydrogen atoms to attach to them. This results in maximum hydrogen saturation. This where the term saturated fat is derived from. Unsaturated fats have at least one double bond between the carbon atoms that link to each other (decreasing its hydrogen saturation) .

A mono-unsaturated fat (e.g. Olive Oil) is a specific type of unsaturated fat that has exactly one double-bond in its basic carbon backbone structure. The double bond causes a crook (like an elbow) in the structure. This property usually makes them liquid at room temperature. On the other hand, saturated fats, like coconut oil or hamburger fat (without double-bonded crooks), solidifies at room temperature.

All saturated fats are not created equal.

Saturated fats come in different lengths and are also known as fatty acids. They are categorized as small-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) and long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). Most of the saturated fats that we are aware of are of the long-chain variety. The longer the chain, the easier it is to get caught up within your artery walls. This is where the concept of “artery-clogging saturated fats” comes from. These longer fat molecules also have to be broken down in the traditional fat metabolism mode, namely emulsification and fat dispersion by bile (secreted by the gall bladder) and enzymatic breakdown by pancreatic enzymes.

Coconut oil, on the contrary, are medium-chain fatty acids and are short enough that they don’t require traditional fat metabolism. This relieves the body of processing power and also allows the fatty acids to go straight to the liver (via the portal vein) where it can be utilized for energy (and not stored as fat). Through the traditional route, long-chain fatty acids like hamburger fat, after being broken down, are absorbed through the intestinal lining and enter into the blood stream. This provides the chance to become lodged in arteries, delays its ability to provide energy and increases it chances to be stored in fat (adipose) cells.

Okay, enough science mumbo-jumbo. Coconut (including its oil component) is considered a functional food because its health benefits far outweigh its nutritional content alone. For a lot of reasons that aren’t fully understood, a functional food, such as a coconut, will enhance the overall functioning of your body and its processes. It facilitates the body’s ability to use nutrients and kick starts metabolism centers in your cells.

That’s All Folks

Now, having read this article wouldn’t you feel it fair to classify coconut oil as a SUPER FOOD? Enjoy the many health benefits of coconut oil. Once you start using it you’ll begin using it for EVERYTHING… and you’ll have good reason to.

One more thing…

I HIGHLY recommend reading Bruce Fife’s book Coconut Cures: Preventing and Treating Common Health Problems with Coconut. Its full of fantastic, in-depth information about coconut and coconut oil. For not only coconut oil but the entire coconut including the milk, water and meat, he’ll dive into the history and science, list of cures, how to take it, recipes, doses for treatment, research studies and the list goes on. If you were to have one comprehensive source (for coconut as a healing food), in an easily digestible book, this would be the ticket.

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About Doctor Scott Health

Dr. Scott McLeod, PharmD is an independent researcher, health advocate and author living in Santa Barbara, CA. For more information about Scott and Doctor Scott Health please visit the 'About' section, here.

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