What is Coconut Oil?
Coconut oil is a type of vegetable oil made from pressing the natural oil out of coconut meat. It can be used for a wide variety of culinary uses, including cooking and baking. It has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor to it but when used in conjunction with other ingredients, you are unlikely to taste it. It is not an ideal frying oil because it has a lower smoke point than other vegetable oils, such as canola and peanut oil, but it is popular for creating stir-fry and sauteed dishes. It is solid at room temperature because it has a very high saturated fat content, which is unusual for vegetable fats. This high saturation means that coconut oil is also extremely resistant to rancidity, and has an extremely long shelf life, even when stored at room temperature.
Many Health benefits of Coconut Oil
According to Scriptures of Hinduism dating back to 1500 B.C.E,
It nourishes the body,
Increases strength
Promotes beautiful hair and skin
In Ayurveda medicine, it has been used for over 4,000 years as an effective treatment for skin diseases. It’s also a good lube (yes, I did just say that). Why put chemicals anywhere near your lady-parts or your man’s man-parts I say! Coco oil smells delicious too. And that just barely scratches the surface.
Promotes weight loss
Studies have shown that when coco oil has been part of one’s diet, white fat stores have been reduced. Due to the medium chain (MCTs) being so well absorbed and used an energy source, their burning actually increases metabolic rate. A diet high in MCTs showed in a study over a 6-day period to increase thermogenesis by 50% – that’s huge, talk about fat burning potential just by adding it to your smoothie!
Beautifying
You can literally slather your body in coco oil after a shower or a bath and use it as a hair moisturizer and not have to worry about any toxic chemicals being absorbed into your blood stream through your skin. Wonderful for dry, flaky and dull-looking skin or dry scalp. It can also been used for psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections.
Immune-enhancing
Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in the coconut is in the form of medium-chain (12-carbon) saturated fat called “lauric acid”. The only other abundant source of this healing fat is in breast milk. Your body converts this to a a highly beneficial compound called monolaurin, an anti-viral, antibacterial that destroys a wide variety of disease causing organisms. H. Pylori, yeast, fungi, protozoa and a number of species of ringworm are all destroyed by lauric acid.
Anti-viral for sexually transmitted disease
Another fat in coconut is called capric acid which when converted in the body to monocarpic has been shown to have antiviral effects for many sexually transmitted diseases including chlamydia, herpes and HIV. In fact, these antiviral compounds are currently being heavily researched in treatment for AIDS patients. Initial studies are showing that coco oil reduces the viral load in people with AIDS.
Safest oil for cooking
Due to the fact it’s a saturated fat, it is very stable and can withstand high heat without turning rancid making it ideal for cooking, sauteing and roasting food. Plus it tastes absolutely tasty.
Coconut Oil Nutrition Facts
Fats
Coconut oil is pure fat, containing no protein or carbohydrates. A 100 g serving of coconut oil contains over 86 g of saturated fat, according to the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory. Of the remaining fat, 5.8 g is monounsaturated fat and 1.8 g is polyunsaturated fat. Among the saturated fats in coconut oil are lauric acid and stearic acid. These act differently than most saturated fats and may have health benefits.
Vitamins and Minerals
Only small amounts of vitamins and minerals are present in coconut oil. Choline is one of the most abundant nutrients in this oil, with 100 g of oil providing 0.3 mg of choline. The same serving size contains 0.09 mg vitamin E and 0.5 mcg vitamin K. Both these vitamins are important for cardiovascular health. The only significant mineral in coconut oil is iron, found at a rate of 0.04 mg per 100 g of oil.
Types of Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is available in unrefined and refined forms. Commercially available refined coconut oils may have been bleached and deodorized and may contain chemicals used in this process, warns Certified Nutritional Counselor Brian Shilhavy at the NaturoDoc website. Similarly, hydrogenated coconut oils contain trans-fatty acids that can raise cholesterol levels. If you want to include coconut oil in your diet, opt for an unrefined, unaltered version such as virgin coconut oil, Shilhavy recommends.
New Research- Coconut Oil May Prevent Tooth Decay
Coconut oil, a natural antibiotic when digested, destroys the bacteria that cause tooth decay, researchers at the Athlone Institute of Technology, Ireland, reported at the Society for General Microbiology's autumn conference at the University of Warwick, England, today. They added that the antibiotic component in digested coconut oil could be added to dental care products. Dr Damien Brady and team set out to determine whether coconut oil might have antibacterial qualities at combating some strains of Streptococcus bacteria which commonly inhabit the human mouth and cause tooth decay. They tested the coconut oil in its natural and semi-digested state. They added enzymes so that the oil could be tested in a digested state.Although natural, undigested coconut oil appeared to have no impact, the scientists found that the digested oil stopped most Streptococcus bacteria from multiplying. Of particular interest was Streptococcus mutans, a type of bacterium which produces teeth-decaying acids. Dr. Brady explained that previous studies had demonstrated that certain foodstuffs, when semi-digested, had the capacity to destroy micro-organisms. The binding of S. mutans to tooth enamel was significantly reduced when teeth were exposed to enzyme-modified milk, one study had shown. That study encouraged this team to test out other foods.
The researchers plan to see how coconut oil interacts with Streptococcus bacteria at molecular level. They also want to find out whether digested coconut oil might combat other pathogens, including some types of bacteria and yeasts. The team inform that preliminary studies have found that semi-digested coconut oil destroys Candida albicans, yeast that causes thrush. The scientists believe that enzyme-modified coconut oil, meaning in its semi-digested state, may have commercially viable antimicrobial qualities for the oral healthcare industry.
Dr Brady said, Dental caries is a commonly overlooked health problem affecting 60-90% of children and the majority of adults in industrialized countries. Incorporating enzyme-modified coconut oil into dental hygiene products would be an attractive alternative to chemical additives, particularly as it works at relatively low concentrations. Also, with increasing antibiotic resistance, it is important that we turn our attention to new ways to combat microbial infection. Our data suggests that products of human digestion show antimicrobial activity. This could have implications for how bacteria colonize the cells lining the digestive tract and for overall gut health. Our research has shown that digested milk protein not only reduced the adherence of harmful bacteria to human intestinal cells but also prevented some of them from gaining entrance into the cell. We are currently researching coconut oil and other enzyme-modified foodstuffs to identify how they interfere with the way bacteria cause illness and disease."
Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans)
Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) is an anaerobic, Gram-positive, coccus shaped bacterium. Coccus shaped means the bacterium has a spherical or spheroidal shape. S. mutans commonly inhabits the human oral cavity and is the leading cause of tooth decay globally.
S. mutans, according to experts, is the most cariogenic of all the oral streptococci. Cariogenic means producing or promoting the development of tooth decay. The bacterium sticks to the surface of the tooth and exists on certain types of carbohydrates. As it metabolizes sugars and other sources of energy, it produces an acid that damages teeth. Virtually all humans carry S. mutans in their oral cavity.
(Source- Society for General Microbiology's autumn conference_
