Thursday 27 March 2014

Amazing Benefits of Coconut Oil



Coconut oil can provide benefits to your skin, can relieve stress, can boost your immune system, improve your heart health, help in kidney problems, maintain your cholesterol level, help in weight loss, regulates your blood pressure, helps in HIV and diabetes, improves your digestion and can regulate you metabolism. 

These overall health benefits are due to antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-fungal and strong antioxidant properties of coconut oil which contains lauric, capric and caprylic MCFA's (Medium Chain Fatty Acids).  MCFA's doesn't require any bile or pancreatic enzymes for digestion and are directly sent to the liver for digestion providing instant energy to your body. 

More than 90% of coconut oil is saturated fat, but don't panic most of them are medium chain triglycerides which assimilate well in body's system a completely different form of saturated fat. Lauric acid is the main content contributing upto 40% of the composition other contents include capric acid, caprylic acid, myristic acid and palmitic acid.

If you are still concerned about saturated fats and believe that coconut oil can cause heart problems, you are wrong in fact if you search through medical literature and medical research studies you will find that coconut oil, in one form or another, was used in hospital IV solutions, it was added to infant formula, and used in anti-candida medications. You will also learn that it was recommended for those with digestive concerns, such as premature infants and cystic fibrosis patients, and that it could help prevent a wide variety of health problems ranging from cancer and diabetes to influenza and AIDS. This is the reality. 

The statement you see time and time again that "coconut oil is a saturated fat and causes heart disease" is false. The statement is never backed by scientific evidence by its authors. You can find the same statement circulating in all the so called health books, magazines and articles, the authors just repeated the statement on and on, which some one else had said to them earlier.

What the hell is the truth?
Once coconut oil was very popular in west also but lost its popularity because of false propaganda earlier. In 1950s it was observed that some saturated fats may tend to raise blood cholesterol. Since high cholesterol levels were considered a risk factor for heart disease doctors were recommending that we reduce our saturated fat intake. 

The vegetable oil industry used this idea very aggressively in order to influence people to use vegetable oil in place of saturated fats. Since the tropical oils (coconut and palm) were highly saturated they were viewed as being unhealthy and even causing heart disease, even though no study had ever shown it.   

Up until the mid-1980s coconut oil was commonly used in many foods. The anti-saturated fat campaigns sponsored by the soybean industry and misguided special interest groups succeeded in frightening the public away from using coconut oil and food manufacturers and restaurants eventually replaced it with hydrogenated soybean oil. By 1990 coconut had virtually disappeared from American and European diets.

So, as a result we'd be seeing less heart related problems, but the truth is that, Heart related problems increased drastically since peoples in west eliminated coconut oil from their diets. 

In fact there were no heart specialists and cardiology doesn't even existed before 1940's. As peoples neglected coconut oil and other saturated fats from there diets and all the so called health experts convinced peoples to eat a low fat diet whole grain diet low in saturated fats, in result we got a new medical field cardiology and heart experts are grown up everywhere like mushrooms and today "coronary heart disease and related heart problems are the no. 1 cause of deaths in USA and western culture" 

However coconut oil is used in India and other tropical countries like Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand extensively. Peoples in these countries have a less sedentary lifestyle and live in difficult conditions but they have less instances of heart disease and an even lower rate for cancer. So, some saturated fats are necessary for our body cell functions and growth some fats like coconut oil which contain high amounts of lauric acid which is converted in to monolaurin by our body which fights with bacteria and viruses that cause disease. 

Lets have a look at some of the remarkable health benefits coconut oil can provide you.    
Health benefits of Coconut Oil

1. Unique combination of nutrients.
Coconut oil contains a lot of MCFA's (medium chain fatty acids) which have powerful medicinal properties. These medium chain triglycerides go directly to the liver where they are used as a source of energy or converted in to ketone bodies which have therapeutic effects on some of the health disorders, that's why "The peoples who eat a lot of coconut products are the healthiest peoples on the planet".

2. Hair care
Coconut oil contains best natural nutrients to take care of your hairs. Coconut oil is used extensively in Indian sub-continent for hair care. Peoples here apply coconut oil tropically, coconut oil is an excellent conditioner, it provides better protection to hair against dandruff, lice, lice eggs and hygral damage. Coconut oil provides essential proteins required for good nourishment and regrowth of damaged hairs.

3. Help in Heart Health
Coconut oil is good for you heart health. It contains about 50% of lauric acid which helps to reduces bad cholesterol and high blood pressure providing support in your heart health.

4. Skin care
Coconut oil is used as a base ingredient in various types of skin care and anti aging products due to its strong antioxidant properties. Coconut oil is an excellent moisturizer for your skin. When applied tropically it prevents dryness and flaking without any side effects. It also delays wrinkle formations and sagging of skin and helps in anti aging solutions. It also helps in treating various skin infections like posariasis, dermititis and eczema etc.

5. Immunity booster
Coconut oil strengthens your immune system as it contains strong antioxidants and nutrients which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. Almost 50% of coconut oil is lauric acid, your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which research has supported as an effective way to deal with viruses and bacteria that cause diseases like herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. Coconut oil helps in fighting harmful bacteria and increases your immunity.

6. Helps in weight loss
Coconut oil can help you lose weight in long run. It contains medium chain triglycerides which have a different effect on your body. It increases metabolic rate of your body by increasing energy expenditure. To lose weight you have to expend more calories than you consume right. Also, the MCFA's in coconut oil can significantly reduce your appetite making you feel fuller and consume less calories. 

7. Helps in proper digestion.
The saturated fats present in coconut oil have antimicrobial properties and help in dealing with various bacteria, fungi, and parasites that can cause indigestion. It helps to improve the digestion system by facilitating proper absorption of vitamins and minerals from food. It helps in IBS.

8. Helps to cure candida
Coconut oil has been shown to provide relief from candida, it relives inflammation caused by candida and helps to recover from symptoms of candida. Candida, also known as Systemic Candidiasis, is a tragic disease caused from excessive and uncontrolled growth of yeast called Candida Albicans in the stomach. This yeast is more or less present in everyone’s stomach, but it doesn’t manifest any adverse effects since its growth is controlled by the beneficial bacteria which also resides in our stomach.

9. Liver health
The presence of medium chain triglycerides and fatty acids helps in preventing liver diseases because those substances are easily converted into energy when they reach the liver, thus reducing the work load of the liver and also preventing accumulation of fat.

10. 
Stress relief
Coconut oil is very soothing and hence it helps in removing stress. Applying coconut oil to the head, followed by a gentle massage, helps to eliminate mental fatigue.

11. Diabetes
Coconut oil helps in controlling blood sugar, and improves the secretion of insulin. It also promotes the effective utilization of blood glucose, thereby preventing and treating diabetes.

12. Kidney
Coconut oil helps in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases. It also helps to dissolve kidney stones.

13. Dental care
Believe it or not, a spoonful of coconut oil can clean your teeth more thoroughly than rushing, flossing, and gargling with antiseptic mouthwash. In addition, it will help prevent tooth decay better than fluoride, without the toxic side effects.

Just put a spoonful of coconut oil into your mouth and swish it around for a period of 15 to 20 minutes. The coconut oil is “worked” in the mouth by pushing, pulling, and sucking it through the teeth. As you work the oil, it sucks up bacteria, toxins, pus, and mucous. Don’t swallow it! When you are finished pulling, spit it into the trash. (This is called oil pulling)

14. HIV and cancer
It is believed that coconut oil plays an instrumental role in reducing a person’s viral susceptibility for HIV and cancer patients. Preliminary research has shown an indication of this effect of coconut oil on reducing the viral load of HIV patients.

Finally, Good for over all health 
Coconut oil is often used by athletes, body builders and by those who are dieting. The reason behind this being that coconut oil contains less calories than other oils, its fat content is easily converted into energy, and it does not lead to accumulation of fat in the heart and arteries. Coconut oil helps boost energy and endurance, and generally enhances the performance of athletes.

1 in every 3 persons in the world is using coconut oil. If you haven't started yet, you can use coconut oil in many different ways like in cooking, as skin lotion, massage oil, try in smooties and snacks. 

Where to buy  
It is easily available in all grocery store all over the world. But if can't find one you can always buy online. 

No comments: