Coconut oil – good or bad?

Alzheimers is a disease that is increasing in our society. It is a form of dementia and rips families apart as the sufferer slowly loses the ability to remember people, events and other parts of their lives, and eventually loses even basic abilities. It is incredibly sad and at this stage there is no cure.

There is a huge amount of research happening worldwide to try and find a way to cure or even prevent this devastating disease.

Oxford University researchers have recently announced that coconut oil may have some short term and temporary relief from the symptoms of Alzheimers. They found that about 30 grams per day may be helpful temporarily to improving the memories of those with Alzheimers.

Professor Peter Clifton of Australia’s Baker IDI Institute in Adelaide, a specialist in Nutritional Medicine has commented that coconut fat contains short-chain fatty acids which can increase ketones and these improve lucidity in some Alzheimer’s sufferers temporarily. “The effect is real,” he said.

There are increasing numbers of food and drinks now available commercially that contain coconut oil and this trend is likely to escalate with this type of news.

Coconut oil is high in saturated fat and this makes food containing it unlikely to get really good nutrition ratings currently. However the type of saturated fat is lauric acid, a solid at room temperature, which studies have shown is linked to the “good” cholesterol (HDLs – high density lipoproteins) and so are actually good for us.

Some people get confused between coconut and palm oils, both are from palm trees but are of completely different species. The main fat in palm oil is palmitic acid and is linked to the LDLs (low density lipoproteins) or as they are known, “the bad cholesterol”. This oil is often used for frying and can be found as an ingredient in many foods, particularly those from overseas.