Medicinal aspects of genuine White Coconut Oil
Dr. L. M. K. Tillekeratne
In the mid 80s, Sri Lankans, even those who were health conscious,
were scared off from the use of coconut oil due to incorrect propaganda
spread by US based Soya oil and Corn oil producers. They were made to
believe that coconut oil, which was the traditional cooking oil used by
our ancestors without any complaints for as long as recorded history
shows, were harmful to health.
Sri Lankans for many generations consumed coconuts in many different
forms in their daily diet. Oil was used for frying, coconut cream was
used in all curries, in all sweet meats, porridge and the Sri Lankan
relish, the 'pol sambol', are all coconut based. Coconut was used for
many medicinal purposes. Ayurveda medicines used for both external
application and oral consumption were coconut oil based.
High cholesterol levels or heart attacks were not common among
ancient Sri Lankans. Health problems caused by tobacco and alcohol in
the present day, are far more serious. Coconut water is one of the most
popular beverages of the people of Sri Lanka even today and is
considered a heath drink.
Oil companies
Using coconut oil in cooking |
Dr. Bruce Fife, a naturopathic doctor, in his book, 'The Healing
Miracles of Coconut Oil' says that coconut oil is the healthiest oil on
earth. Modern scientific research backs this bold statement.
Before 1980 and before the anti coconut propaganda launched by the
above mentioned oil companies for economic and political reasons,
coconut oil was used in the USA and Europe for baking and frying. There
were no complaints of any health hazards.
Fabricated stories were used by these companies to convince the
public that all saturated fats were unhealthy, in spite of the fact that
saturated fats rich in medium-chain fatty acids like lauric acid have
been scientifically proven to be exceptionally healthy. As a result most
people switched to vegetable oils and lost the main source of lauric
acid found in tropical oils in their diet.
However in the 1980s, coconut oil, wrongly accused of being
responsible for increasing cholesterol levels by the West, is now held
in high esteem used even by doctors in the treatment of a variety of
disorders. Clinical studies have shown that coconut oil has
anti-microbial and anti-viral properties, and is now used in treating
AIDS patients.
Promoting weight loss
Approximately 50 percent of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric
acid. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional
beneficial function of being converted into monolaurin in the human or
animal body. Monolaurin is the antiviral, antibacterial, and
antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal body to destroy
lipid coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, influenza and various other
pathogenic bacteria. Studies have shown the antimicrobial effects of
free lauric acid.
According to latest research, scientists guarantee that unhealthy Low
Density Lipids (LDL) is not found in coconut oil. Instead, coconut oil
has health safe HDL. High levels of LDL cholesterol, low levels of HDL
cholesterol and elevated serum triglycerides are factors that contribute
to coronary risk.
Hence, the main precaution that we should take even with good quality
coconut or any other vegetable oil is not to reuse the oil many times,
especially in deep frying. As a result of deep frying, the amount of
trans-fats in vegetable oils is increased. These trans-fats increase bad
(LDL) cholesterol in the human body while decreasing good (HDL)
cholesterol and also increasing serum triglycerides.
Pharmaceutical applications
Another incredible fact about coconut oil is that even though it is a
fat, it actually promotes weight loss. The reason for this again is the
healthy medium-chain fatty acids. These fatty acids do not circulate in
the bloodstream like ordinary fats, but are sent directly to the liver
where they are immediately converted into energy, just like
carbohydrates. So the body uses the fat in coconut oil to produce
energy, rather than to be stored as fat.
Medium-chain fatty acids found in coconut oil also speed up the
body's metabolism, burning more calories and promoting weight loss. The
weight loss effects of coconut oil have been demonstrated by many
researchers.
The value of coconut oil has now being realized and is in fact used
by Western doctors in the treatment of a variety of disorders. There are
companies in Europe that sell coconut oil for medicinal applications
such as incorporating into intravenous antibiotics. Instead of calling
these products by their real name - 'Physically Refined Coconut Oil'
containing a high Medium Chain Triglyceride (MCT) value but, low HDL and
trans fatty acids, they are named 'MCT Oil' and sold for pharmaceutical
applications at very high prices.
Further, in contrary to their earlier theory, the TNT spray
prescribed to heart patients to spray under the tongue to improve oxygen
supply to the heart in an emergency situation, is now produced in the UK
and marketed at a very high price under the trade name JPN spray. The
solvent in that spray is coconut oil. The dilation caused by the MCT in
the coconut oil, relaxes the muscles, which promotes the free flow of
blood. A few years ago the doctors strongly advised heart patients to
keep totally away from coconut oil.
A very popular video documentary on the internet under the caption
'Coconut oil touted as Alzheimer's remedy' clearly indicates the ability
of coconut oil to regenerate dead brain cells and cure Alzheimer's
disease. This short video is based on an experiment carried out by Dr
Mary T Newport, a US paediatrician who cured her husband from
Alzheimer's disease by regularly feeding him pure coconut oil. In that
short video, Dr Mary Newport mention how medium chain triglycerides in
the coconut oil get metabolized in the liver to give ketone esters that
have the ability to regenerate dead cells in the brain.
Traditional method of drying copra
In traditional copra kilns, coconut kernels are dried from the heat
of coconut shell fire at very high temperatures. This process not only
destroy a valuable raw material (coconut shells) used in the production
of activated charcoal for the export market, but also overheat kernels
thereby promoting the formation of poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)
which are harmful to human body. Creosotic substances deposited on copra
by burning shell fumes ultimately end up as tar in the oil produced.
Further, during this open kiln drying process copra gets contaminated
with various extraneous substances such as droppings of rats and crows
and insects.
Copra used for expelling oil is almost always contaminated with
fungi. The blue, brown and black moulds are very common in copra. It has
been reported that aflatoxin contamination is also very common in mouldy
copra.
Expelled oil when kept in corroded steel drums for days, some times
in the hot sun, rust contamination may occur and PAH formation takes
place. Hence in order to preserve the quality and particularly to
improve the medicinal value of coconut oil, drying kernels for copra and
the expelling of oil should be done scientifically. Drying temperature
of the copra should not exceed 40 to 50 degrees Celsius to avoid PAH
formation. Most of the coconut oil producers in Sri Lanka do not follow
quality and food safety procedures. The SLS standards too are not
defined to identify the 'Chemically refined' or 'Physically refined'
process from the specifications given in the SLS standards.
Health benefits
Some of the White Coconut Oils in the market are RBD (refined,
bleached, and deodorized) made by the traditional method of drying copra
and expelling. These RBD oils do maintain the beneficial chemical
structures of the medium chain fatty acids. But, they also contain high
health unsafe peroxide levels and chemical residues left behind during
processing. They deteriorate faster as well when exposed to the
atmosphere.
In order to get the best health benefits of coconut oil, the correct
process must be followed to convert coconut kernels to clean copra to
extract pure White Oil without subjecting to bleaching.
In the newly developed cold process of drying coconut kernels under
vacuum reported in a daily newspaper dated February 20, 2012 the drying
temperature is maintained below 40c. There is no mould or insect
contamination. This kiln can produce much superior quality copra.
This copra can be safely converted to pure water White Oil by a
vacuum process using steam for heating thereby retaining the valuable
monolaurins in the resulting White Oil which helps to maintain the
body's immune system. As this process prevents high temperature
oxidization of the oil, the resulting oil has virtually zero peroxide
values.
Traditional methods
This kiln can also be used to dry many other export commodities like
Cardamom while retaining the natural green colour of the pods which will
give them a higher grade.
It is unfortunate that none of the above parameters, which ensure the
health safety and the medicinal value of the oil, are taken into
account. There is no indication of the high peroxide values that occur
due to the storing of the oil in corroded steel drums, a root cause of
many diseases related to edible oils.
Steps are now being taken by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution to
revise the standards for all coconut oils. It is believed that these new
parameters and specifications, which are vital for human health and
safety, will be incorporated into the revised standards. Further, in
future the White Coconut Oils marketed under the SLS mark should clearly
indicate the process of refining used in the label, as by 'Physical
Process' or by 'Chemical Process'.
Also it is a known fact that oils available in the domestic market as
vegetable oils are adulterated with other oils such as palm oil and some
times even with oils used for deep frying and disposed by hotels with
high LDL values and hence are not safe for human consumption.
Based on the above, the time has come now for the government to take
this matter up at international level and try to gain the rightful place
for this precious, physically refined, health safe coconut oil having
the above mentioned special specifications. Normal white coconut oil
made by traditional methods with high peroxide levels and with chemical
and smoke residues and with polymerized molecules will not qualify for
this purpose. |