Your competent? doctor can summarize how coconut oil can help or just say it is poison, your choice of what to believe.
Ask your doctor to clarify with valid research points.
The Hype About Coconut Oil Benefit Is False
A Harvard professor just busted the myth that coconut oil is good for you, calling it 'pure poison'
I will still use it, reasons found in these posts.
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coconut oil
(65 posts)
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil, derived from the dried Cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit, is made up of 90% saturated triglycerides and is used as a skin- and hair-conditioning agent as well as a fragrance ingredient in hundreds of formulations at concentrations ranging from 0.0001% to 70%. Notably, coconut oil also has a long history of traditional medicine use in China and India and in food preparation. Indeed, coconut oil is a staple ingredient in the Sri Lankan diet as well as others in South Asia, Africa, and South America, where coconut is cultivated.
Coconut oil has also been used for skin moisturizing for several centuries among people living in tropical and subtropical regions. It is known to exhibit antiaging, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activity. This column focuses on recent evidence of wide-ranging benefits to skin health from the use of coconut oil.
Chemical Composition
Virgin coconut oil, or the unprocessed oil derived from a fresh coconut endocarp, is composed mainly of saturated fatty acids, including capric (7%), caprylic (8%), gallic, lauric (49%), linoleic (2%), myristic (18%), oleic (6%), palmitic (8%), stearic (2%), and phenolic acids, as well as medium-chain triglycerides, polyphenols, iron, and vitamins E and K. Coconut oil is known to exhibit anticancer , antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, and skin moisturizing activity.
The monoglyceride monolaurin, derived from lauric acid, makes up 50% of the fat content of coconut and exhibits notable antibacterial effects against Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Coconut oil in concentrations of 5%-40% (w/w) displays antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, and Bacillus subtilis.
Wound Healing
In 2010, Nevin and Rajamohan demonstrated that topical application of cold-pressed virgin coconut oil to young female Sprague-Dawley rats once daily for 10 days yielded more rapid epithelialization and healing in treated rats vs controls. Increased levels of collagen, elastin, glycosaminoglycans, hexose, proteins, and sialic acid in the granulation tissue were observed.
Nine years later, Meliala and colleagues showed that virgin coconut oil and hydrolyzed virgin coconut oil enhanced protein expressions of MMP-9, PDGF-BB, and TGF-beta-1 in NIH-3T3 cell lines, suggesting their activity in wound healing. They noted that the hydrolyzed version was more active.
Hair Health
Virgin coconut oil has been reported to provide emollient and hair-conditioning effects, deliver shine, diminish hair breakage, and darken hair. It also contributes to the treatment of hair loss caused by reputed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory activity.
Coconut oil is a key ingredient in shampoos, conditioners, creams, and ointments, in which it is used to strengthen damaged and undamaged hair. In a 2022 systematic review of the literature on oils used traditionally to treat the hair of people of color, Phong and colleagues identified 22 articles meeting inclusion criteria. Based on this material, they concluded that coconut oil has demonstrated clinical efficacy in treating brittle hair and hair infestations.
Anti-Inflammatory Activity and Skin Barrier Health
By promoting expression of cornified envelope constituents in the epidermis, coconut oil improves the barrier function of the stratum corneum.
In 2017, Kim and colleagues studied the effects of cultured coconut extract on human explanted skin exposed to ultraviolet B radiation. Samples of skin treated with the extract evinced elevated expression of cornified cell envelope components, which aid the stratum corneum in providing skin protection. Inflammatory marker expression was also diminished in the treated group. Furthermore, collagen and hyaluronan synthase-3 expression were increased in the treated group. The authors concluded that cultured coconut extract improved barrier functions of the stratum corneum and delivered anti-inflammatory activity — roles they ascribed to the abundant polyphenols and fatty acids found in coconut.
In 2018, Varma and colleagues demonstrated that virgin coconut oil exhibits anti-inflammatory and skin-protective activity by inhibiting inflammatory markers and ameliorating skin barrier function, specifically elevating the expression of Aquaporin-3, involucrin, and filaggrin. They concluded that these roles justify the use of virgin coconut oil in skin care products.
Compared to Other Oils
Used as a moisturizer to treat mild-to-moderate dry skin, coconut oil has demonstrated comparable efficacy and safety to mineral oil.
In a review of clinical studies conducted by Poljšak and Kocevar Glavac in 2022, coconut oil was among three oils used in patients with atopic dermatitis and outperformed mineral oil. Coconut oil also significantly diminished S aureus colonization compared with olive oil in another trial.
Treating Newborn Skin
In 2014, Evangelista and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial to compare the effects of topical virgin coconut oil and mineral oil on SCORAD (SCORing of Atopic Dermatitis) values, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and skin capacitance in 117 pediatric patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis over 8 weeks. The coconut oil group performed better along every metric, with both oils diminishing the signs of atopic dermatitis. The investigators concluded that topical virgin coconut oil was superior to mineral oil for pediatric patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis in terms of clinical and instrumental evaluations.
The next year, Nangia and colleagues determined that coconut oil application decreased TEWL without elevating skin colonization in very low birthweight neonates.
In 2018, Strunk and colleagues conducted an open-label, randomized controlled trial to assess the viability, safety, and effectiveness of topical coconut oil to treat the skin of 72 very preterm infants (< 30 weeks’ gestation). No adverse effects emerged from the study, which found that topically applied coconut oil was a feasible treatment. The Neonatal Skin Condition Score in the coconut oil group was maintained throughout the study, whereas it decreased in the control group. The investigators concluded that the superiority of coconut oil over routine care warrants additional study.
Two years later, Konar and colleagues reported on a randomized controlled trial to ascertain the efficacy of coconut oil application on the skin of preterm infants. The intervention group received virgin coconut oil (n = 1146), and the control group received only body massage (n = 1148). Greater skin maturity as well as neurodevelopmental results were observed in the coconut oil group, along with fewer occurrences of hypothermia and apnea. No significant adverse side effects were observed.
Safety
The final report on the safety evaluation of coconut oil, published in 2011, revealed that the oil and its related constituents are considered safe as cosmetic ingredients by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel.
Conclusion
Coconut oil has a lengthy history of medical, nutritional, and other uses. Current evidence supports the use of this botanical agent to promote skin health. More research is needed to ascertain more varied and curative applications for this popular natural product.
Dr Baumann is a private-practice dermatologist, researcher, author, and entrepreneur in Miami, and a cosmetic dermatologist for Body+Beauty Labs. She founded the Division of Cosmetic Dermatology at the University of Miami in 1997. The third edition of her bestselling textbook, Cosmetic Dermatology, was published in 2022.
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