Much maligned for years as a saturated fat, we’ll bring you truth regarding the incredible health properties of coconut oil.

Study: Virgin Coconut Oil has Anti-inflammatory and Skin Protective Properties

Many who have used coconut oil for their skin and hair rave about its positive effects. Many testimonials to the powerful healing properties of virgin coconut oil for skin conditions have been published here at CoconutOil.com over the years. People have testified to virgin coconut oil healing fungal skin infections, acne, eczema, keratosis polaris, psoriasis, rosacea, and more. But exactly how virgin coconut oil is so beneficial for applying on one's skin has rarely, if ever, been thoroughly analyzed on a chemical and cellular level. That’s no longer the case, as a new study has recently determined what goes on biochemically within the skin’s cellular and genetic composition when using virgin coconut oil on one’s skin. This report, In vitro anti-inflammatory and skin protective properties of Virgin coconut oil, was published by the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine in January, 2019.

Study: Coconut Oil Prevents Macular Degeneration – Healthy for the Eyes

A recent study published late 2018 confirms an earlier Health Impact News article that macular degeneration, a disease mainstream medicine considers irreversible, can be prevented, attenuated, and even reversed naturally. The natural ingredient this study tested was coconut oil. This study was conducted by Nigeria’s University of Ilorin’s Department of Physiology. The final report, titled "Coconut oil protects against light-induced retina degeneration in male Wistar rats" was published by the journal Pathophysiology.

Study: Coconut Oil Better for Preventing Heart Disease and Diabetes in Asian Diets

In parts of Asia, both peanut oil and coconut oil are often used for cooking. A recent study in India compared cooking with peanut oil to cooking with coconut oil to determine the relative health benefits for weight management, heart disease, and diabetes. The researchers used nine healthy male volunteers with normal body mass index or BMI levels to undergo eight weeks of consuming a normally balanced diet cooked with coconut oil, followed by a six-week "washout" period, then another eight weeks of the same diet cooked with peanut oil. The study report is called Coconut oil consumption improves fat-free mass, plasma HDL-cholesterol and insulin sensitivity in healthy men with normal BMI compared to peanut oil. The researchers concluded: "… compared to peanut oil, the consumption of coconut oil in a balanced diet resulted in increased fat-free mass, plasma HDL-C, elicited favourable changes on insulin sensitivity and CVD risk-associated parameters in healthy men with normal BMI."

Research Shows High-Fat Low-Carb Diet with Coconut Oil Can Prevent or Cure Alzheimer’s

A very recent review on nutritional approaches toward preventing and reversing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was conducted in Christchurch, New Zealand’s Canterbury University. The results were submitted to the journal Nutrition. It’s title: "The ketogenic diet as a potential treatment and prevention strategy for Alzheimer's disease." After analyzing 33 studies researching AD and other neurological disorders handled with a ketogenic diet and supplementing coconut oil, the University of Canterbury review analysis concluded: "In this review, we hypothesize that the ketogenic diet could be an effective treatment and prevention for Alzheimer's disease, but both ketone production and carbohydrate restriction may be needed to achieve this."

Study: Medium Chain Fatty Acids in Coconut Oil Provide Sustained Energy for Athletes

Most of us are not used to considering dietary fat as a high source of energy for all-out exercise, athletic activity, and physical labor. Energy from fat has usually been associated with stored fat within the body as a reserve for when carbohydrate energy runs out. Now a 2018 Russian study using cross-country skiers as human subjects determined medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), normally contained in only a few saturated fats, supplied immediate energy during high demand athletic endeavors. These fatty acids don’t get stored as fat, but provide sustained energy. This truth can benefit all of us, not just athletes.

Study: Neuroprotective Effect of Virgin Coconut Oil Helps Relieve ALS (Lou Gehrig Disease)

ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a neurodegenerative disease that causes disability and can lead to death. It is considered progressive and incurable. It is often referred to as Lou Gehrig disease, named after the Yankee baseball star of decades ago whose career was cut short by ALS. ALS begins with minor muscular control issues then progresses until one is completely disabled, even unable to consume food or breathe. It can be a slow, miserable death for many who are stricken. ALS diagnoses have been increasing, and the pharmaceutical industry has no cures. A recent animal study looked into the potential of coconut oil for preventing or reducing ALS symptoms. The results of the study were positive, and revealed that the coconut oil supplementation together with the regular diet delayed disease symptoms, enhanced motor performance, and prolonged survival in mouse models. The baby-boomer era generations are aging in large numbers, and those aging are most prone to neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and Alzheimer’s disease. Virgin coconut oil is safe and carries even more nutritional benefits in addition to neurological protections.

Study: Virgin Coconut Oil Better than Drugs in Treating Diabetes and Obesity

Researchers in Brazil recently completed an animal study to determine if virgin coconut oil (VCO) could replace pharmaceutical drugs for reducing obesity and its attendant co-morbid inflammatory and diabetic conditions. The researchers refuted the misguided conventional thinking of saturated fats causing obesity. They wanted to investigate the saturated fat coconut oil as a functional food to replace pharmaceutical drugs currently used for obesity that cause adverse side effects. The Brazilian researchers also expressed concern with the abundant schemes and dietary efforts at reducing calories that are impractical and difficult to maintain, not to mention often unhealthy. Using refined carbohydrates and processed vegetable oils to avoid saturated fat is the lifestyle of the unhealthy, as the standard American diet (SAD) has proven. The researchers used refined carbohydrates to create adiposity in their experimental mice. Refined carbohydrates such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and flours used in processed foods are pervasive in our culture and have been recognized by many scientists open to the truth as the real culprits behind obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Use of Coconut Oil as Enema Saves Woman’s Colon from being Surgically Removed due to Colitis After Drugs Failed

A new case study out of Germany just published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology documents the remarkable recovery of a woman who was recommended to have part of her colon removed, including her anus, due to a severe case of Crohn's disease and complicated by diversion colitis. She refused to have a proctectomy (to surgically remove a portion of her colon along with her anus) as recommended by her doctors, and requested a natural approach instead. Therefore, her doctors started daily local administration of three and half ounces of prewarmed coconut oil as a rectal enema. The patient saw immediate results within one week, and after 12 weeks, she was free of pain and returned to work.

As Alzheimer’s Drugs Continue to Fail, Researchers Search for Reasons Why Coconut Oil Cures Alzheimer’s

A group of New York City’s Mt. Sinai Medical School researchers set out to analyze why and how coconut oil affects Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients favorably. They acknowledged some efficacy from coconut oil, and they wanted to know more. Since most drug trials to develop an Alzheimer's drug have failed miserably, the motivation to study coconut oil in order to understand how it positively affects AD was probably motivated by a desire to patent a new drug that could work similar to coconut oil, a natural food that cannot be patented. Their research was based on earlier animal studies of virgin coconut oil’s effect on mouse models of coconut oil as well as other in vitro (lab culture) studies. The researchers also acknowledged the existence of many anecdotal testimonies of AD (Alzheimer’s disease) patients. The Mt. Sinai report was published in the journal Science Direct, Brain Research with the title: Coconut oil decreases expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and secretion of amyloid peptides through inhibition of ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1).

Study: Virgin Coconut Oil Improves the Microbiome and Fights Diabetes

A new study published in the journal Plant Foods for Human Nutrition on August 31, 2018, with the title Beneficial Effect of Virgin Coconut Oil on Alloxan-Induced Diabetes and Microbiota Composition in Rats adds further proof that virgin coconut oil is a powerful remedy for diabetes. In this latest study, virgin coconut oil was shown to be beneficial to the microbiome by increasing probiotic bacteria, leading to better outcomes for those suffering with diabetes. This new research confirms what many have reported to us over the past 15 plus years, that virgin coconut oil is beneficial in overcoming both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. This new study offers a possible explanation as to how virgin coconut oil helps people with Type 1 diabetes without directly affecting insulin levels.