Coconut oil: what do we really know about it so far?

Obviously no one knows a damn thing about it yet, so you are on your own. Start reading. I'm doing some, but I'm not medically trained so don't listen to me.

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Coconut oil: what do we really know about it so far?

Renan da Silva Lima Jane Mara Block

Food Quality and Safety, fyz004, https://doi.org/10.1093/fqsafe/fyz004

Published:

22 April 2019

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Abstract

In recent years, coconut oil has emerged as a potential ‘miracle’ food. Some media vehicles and health specialists assure that this fat is capable of promoting health benefits, such as weight reduction, cholesterol lowering, prevention of cardiovascular diseases, and anti-inflammatory effect, among others. These claims are used to market the product and boost its sales by coconut oil companies. However, governmental regulatory agencies in many countries are still sceptical about the benefits obtained by the consumption of coconut oil due to its high-saturated fatty acid content. In light of such controversy, this review focused on analysing the published literature on the alleged health claims, in order to investigate if there is enough scientific evidence to support them. It was verified that the metabolism of lauric acid, the major fatty acid in coconut oil, remains unclear. Many studies reported that the product was not efficient in weight loss. Also, it has been reported that the consumption of coconut oil increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, consequently increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In general, the studies present conflicting results and there is a lack of long-term human-based clinical trials. Therefore, as a saturated fat, coconut oil should be consumed with moderation and the health allegations should not be used to market the product, once they are not scientifically proven so far.

lauric acid, saturated fatty acids, medium-chain triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases

Issue Section:

Review Paper

Introduction

Coconut is one of the most important foods in some tropical and subtropical countries, with the coconut tree being referred as the ‘tree of life’. In such places, coconut and its products (milk and oil, among others) are used in daily life by the general population for several purposes, such as cooking, hair and skin treatment, food ingredient, and folk medicine (DebMandal and Mandal, 2011). This plant is cultivated in more than 90 countries, yielding a total production of 59 million tons in the year of 2016. The production of coconut is heavily located in Asia, which was responsible for 83.8 per cent of the world’s coconut production in 2016. In this same year, Indonesia was the largest coconut producer with 16.6 million tons, followed by the Philippines (14.1 million tons), India (9.8 million tons), Brazil (2.5 million tons), and Sri Lanka (2.2 million tons) (Statista, 2018a).
In recent years, coconut oil (CO), the main coconut product, has attracted the attention of the media and the population worldwide, especially in Europe and North America. Celebrities, digital influencers, and even doctors have endorsed the use of this oil as a cooking media in substitution to other vegetable oils and as a supplementary ingredient to be consumed with coffee and vitamin shakes. Blogs, internet videos, and articles are promoting the consumption of CO based on allegations that this product is capable of bringing several health benefits. These benefits include cholesterol-lowering effect, reduction of the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), weight loss, improvement of cognitive functions, action as an antimicrobial agent, and others (BBC News, 2018; Medical News Today, 2018; New Straits Times, 2018; SBS, 2018; The Indian Weekender, 2018).
Following this modern trend, the sales of this product have grown. According to Statista (2018b), the consumption of CO in the USA increased by 34 per cent from 2004 to 2014. Many of the CO brands market their product based on the supposed health benefits promoted by its consumption. In their labels, we can find allegations such as ‘good for cooking’ (iHerb, 2018a, iHerb, 2018d, eVitamins, 2018; Piping Rock, 2018; Lucky Vitamin, 2018a), ‘one of nature’s healthiest cooking oils’ (iHerb, 2018b), and ‘easy digestion, generating quick energy, helping the protection and equilibrium of our organism’ (Americanas, 2018; Natumesa, 2018; Lucky Vitamin, 2018b; Lucky Vitamin, 2018c; iHerb, 2018c). Some labels may even suggest the consumption of one tablespoon once to three times a day with a meal (iHerb, 2018b; iHerb, 2018c); others affirm that the consumption of CO is capable of reducing cholesterol levels and the risk of a heart attack, besides of aiding in weight reduction (QualiCôco, 2018; iHerb, 2018c).
At the same time, CO has also been attracting attention from the scientific community with an exponential growth of scientific articles on CO through the years (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

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Number of scientific papers about coconut oil through the years. (Scopus, 2018).

However, the health-promoting effects of CO are far from reaching a consensus. This may be attributed to the product’s majorly saturated nature, with about 90 per cent of saturated fatty acids in its composition. The excessive ingestion of saturated fatty acids has been positively correlated with the increase of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, with consequent development of CVDs (Eyres et al., 2016). The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that the daily intake of saturated fat should not surpass 10 per cent of the total calories (USDA, 2015). Likewise, the World Health Organization (WHO) also recommends limiting the intake of saturated fat to a maximum of 10 per cent of the daily total calories (World Health Organization, 2018). On the other hand, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which does not specify a limit for the ingestion of saturated fat, recommends that the intake of saturated fat should be as low as possible (EFSA, 2017).
The American Heart Association, specifically for coconut fat, does not recommend its consumption above the limit established by the USDA for saturated fat intake (Sacks et al., 2017; USDA, 2015). Considering that the fatty acid profile of CO is majorly composed of saturated fatty acids, the consumption of this fat at the established 10 per cent limit in a 2000 kcal diet means that the subject would ingest an amount of approximately 24 g of saturated fat on a daily basis.
As the USDA and the American Heart Association, the EFSA also have issued a scientific opinion on the specific claims about medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) as a weight reduction agent. MCFAs account for 62 per cent of CO’s fatty acid composition. The EFSA panel concluded that there is not enough evidence in human intervention studies to support that MCFAs show a positive effect in weight management. The statement concludes that this specific allegation is weak and not convincing (EFSA, 2011).
In Brazil, the fourth largest CO producer, the Brazilian Society of endocrinology and metabolism (SBEM) and the Brazilian Association for the Study of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome (ABESO) have also issued a position on the use of CO as a weight loss agent. Both health agencies support that there is not conclusive scientific evidence about this topic. Therefore, the use of CO should be restricted. SBEM and ABESO also do not recommend CO as a cooking media due to its high-saturated fatty acid composition. On the other hand, unsaturated vegetable oils such as soybean oil, olive oil, and canola oil are recommended to diminish the risk of CVDs (SBEM and ABESO, 2015).
The scientific evidence on the supposed benefits of CO should be examined and more information should reach the population. In this review, the chemistry and the processing, as well as the published data on the major and minor health claims attributed to CO by the media, the general public, and the manufacturing companies are presented and discussed.