The Facts About
fat
Part Four
Coconut Oil Debunked
made with 
by Dietetically Speaking
Coconut oil is a solid oil which is taken from the milk or kernel of coconuts1
From 2008 - 2012 references to consuming coconut oil in the UK increased by 2
Coconut oil is one of the most expensive oils available, in the UK it is 154 - 375% more expensive than olive oil and 250 - 459% more expensive than rapeseed oil3
The UK department of health advises to consume only small amounts of coconut oil because it is high in saturated fat4
Saturated Fat Comparison:9
7%
saturated fat
Rapeseed Oil
14%
saturated fat
Olive Oil
39%
saturated fat
Lard
63%
saturated fat
Butter
82%
saturated fat
Coconut Oil
1 tablespoon of coconut oil contains 12g of saturated fat, which is roughly the same as the daily limit recommended by the American Heart Association, or the same as:6-8
3.5 jam donuts
or 10 squares of chocolate
or 1 cornish pasty
Some people argue that coconut oil is healthy because it contains medium chain tryglycerides (MCTs). However the main fat in coconut oil is lauric acid which is a long chain triglyceride (LCT), therefore 78 - 90% of the fat found in coconut oil is LCT and <16% is MCT1,5
Little direct research has been carried out to see how consuming coconut oil affects humans, but currently there is no good evidence that coconut oil reduces the risk of obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases or viral infections1,5
Some studies of populations in the Pacific which include a lot of coconuts in their diet found no increased risk of heart disease - but but this does not prove that coconut oil is heart healthy as these populations were consuming coconut flesh and coconut milk rather than the extracted oil, and it doesn't take into account other factors such as activity level or the fact that these populations consumed a lot of fish, fruit and vegetables5
The best available evidence has found that coconut oil increases total cholesterol and LDL (unhealthy) cholesterol more than unsaturated vegetable oils do (like olive oil and safflower oil), but less than butter does9,10
Unlike coconut oil, good quality evidence has found that consuming olive oil has health benefits such as a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke1,9,11
Coconut oil is often promoted as a good choice to cook with as it is stable at high temperatures, but this is only true of refined coconut oil whereas the more commonly sold virgin or cold-pressed coconut oil has a medium smoke point of 180 ℃, which isn’t the best choice for frying or baking and is lower than virgin olive oil (214 ℃) and rapeseed oil (207 ℃)12
As with most types of oil, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil contains roughly 120 calories which is the same as:7,8
2 mini sausage rolls
or 1/2 a jam donut
or a 175ml glass of medium white wine
Like any food which is high in saturated fat, coconut oil is fine to have as part of a balanced diet in small amounts if you like the taste of this; but there is currently no good evidence that consuming coconut oil adds specific health benefits; especially in Western societies where many people would be healthier if they consumed less saturated fat and less calories overall.
Click here to see Part Two: Trans & Saturated Fat
Click here to see Part One: The Basics
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References:
1. Lockyer & Stanner (2016) "Coconut oil – a nutty idea?" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nbu.12188/abstract)
2. Mintel (2015) "Yellow Fats and Edible Oils - UK"
3. UK data from MySupermarket.com 23/06/17
4. NHS Choices (2015) "Is saturated fat bad for me?"
5. NZ Heart Foundation (2014) "Coconut Oil and The Heart" https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/wellbeing/healthy-eating/nutrition-facts/is-coconut-healthy
6. AHA website "Saturated Fat" (accessed May 2017). https://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/FatsAndOils/Fats101/Saturated-Fats_UCM_301110_Article.jsp#.WVFv2BPyvLY
7. McCance & Widdowson's: The Composition of Foods - Fifth Revised and Extended Edition
8. FSA (2011) “Food Portion Sizes: Third Edition”
9. Sacks et al. (2017) “Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association” https://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2017/06/15/CIR.0000000000000510
10. Eyres et al, (2016) “Coconut oil consumption and cardiovascular risk factors in humans“ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26946252
11. Schwingshackl & Hoffmann (2014) “Monounsaturated fatty acids, olive oil and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies”
12. “Oil Well data sheet” (2014) available via: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TCpmlGXaLh4Pi-fzAAvpCDWlsNagGpVBLfG4ekEPtCs/edit#gid=15