It took months to get my girls to start liking the taste of coconut oil in their food.
Granted that the majority of my cooking is done with olive oil, but having read so much about the benefits of coconut oil, I had introduced it much more than before into my cooking as another ‘healthier’ oil.
Well guess what!?
Yep you guessed it...it seems now it is not so healthy!
So what happened? For years it has been labelled a healthy alternative to butter and other oils.
Well it boils down to saturated fat and cholesterol.
Coconut oil has more saturated fat than other oils – about 82 per cent, whereas butter is 63pc saturated fat, beef fat is 50pc and pork lard comes in at 39pc.
The American Heart Association says even though coconut oil may come from a tree, it is not a particularly healthful fat.
The association issued a reminder this week that swapping out artery-clogging saturated fats such as butter with healthy vegetable fats can do as much good for some people as taking a statin drug.
“Scientific studies that lowered intake of saturated fat and replaced it with polyunsaturated vegetable oil reduced cardiovascular disease by approximately 30 per cent; similar to cholesterol-lowering drugs, known as statins,” says AHA.
The experts stress the word “replace.” That means not just cutting the bad fats — it also means adding the “good” fats, such as corn, soybean and peanut oil.
Several studies found that coconut oil, which is predominantly saturated fat and widely touted as healthy, raised LDL cholesterol the same way as other saturated fats found in butter, beef fat and palm oil.
Another revelation? All fats, apparently are a mix of saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
The Heart Association said polyunsaturated fats appear to lower the risk of heart disease the most, followed by monounsaturated fats. Saturated fats are the least desirable.
About 808,000 people in the US died of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in 2014.
So that is about one of every three deaths.
“We want to set the record straight on why well-conducted scientific research overwhelmingly supports limiting saturated fat in the diet to prevent diseases of the heart and blood vessels,” says Dr Frank Sacks, lead author of the advisory and professor of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health.
“Saturated fat increases LDL, the bad cholesterol, which is a major cause of artery-clogging plaque and cardiovascular disease.”
Saturated fats are found in meat, full-fat dairy products and tropical oils such as coconut, palm and others.
“A healthy diet doesn’t just limit certain unfavourable nutrients, such as saturated fats, that can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other blood vessel diseases. It should also focus on healthy foods rich in nutrients that can help reduce disease risk, like poly-and mono-unsaturated vegetable oils, nuts, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and others,” says the report.
Now we are told not to cook with it!
Apparently our food soaks in the fat, increasing calories and fat content.
However, some experts suggest that is not enough to outweigh the increase in bad cholesterol.
And Harvard School of Public Health says “coconut oil’s special HDL-boosting effect may make it “less bad” than the high saturated fat content would indicate ... but it’s still probably not the best choice among the many available oils to reduce the risk of heart disease.”
Oh boy! I am sticking to olive oil ... until another study tells us otherwise!