Coconut Oil

As with all things on my blog, this is not medical advice, and I am not a doctor. Please don't take this for something it isn't.

A couple friends recently encouraged me switch to coconut oil for cooking, saying it makes foods come out seeming "perfect" and that it enhances metabolism. As an example, one of them mentioned that a population previously dependent on coconuts (Polynesians) have become some of the most-obese out there since switching to industrialized diets, the implication being that their bodies evolved under the pretense of always having the metabolism-boosting effects of high coconut intake.

Well, I went ahead and looked into coconut lipids, and it checks out: they do enhance metabolism. The reason is that they’re chock-full of MCFAs, which the body apparently rapidly metabolizes. The next-best dietary sources for these after coconuts are palm kernels and then, way behind, dairy.

However, it also turns out that coconut oil is practically devoid of nutritional value (vitamins ADEK, minerals, etc). By contrast, many other fats (like butter, milk, and especially lard) are full of fat-soluble vitamins.

Dietarily, I'd say coconut oil functions more like a replacement for sugar than for other fats — it primarily acts more as a fuel source than as a nutrient store. Totally replacing the other fats in your diet with coconut oil would assuredly lead to micronutrient deficiencies, and I wouldn't advise it.

A healthier way to get MCFAs is from coconut milk and especially meat, since they contain fiber, protein, minerals, and some vitamins alongside the fats.

Also, worth noting: those Polynesians my friend mentioned wouldn’t have been eating extracted coconut oil — they’d have been eating the whole coconut (meat and milk).

Personally, I'll reserve the oil for baking sweets and not for nutrition; I'll use coconut meat instead when I want MCFAs. For dietary fats, I'll stick with dairy.

Coconut oil could serve a unique function of keeping you warm in Winter by way of its metabolism boostingness. There is accordingly something to be said for bringing it with you on Winter hiking trips.