The Coconut Oil Miracle (11 page)

In addition being found on our skin, MCFAs are found in mother’s milk, to protect and nourish babies. They are nontoxic to us and create no toxic byproducts. They are completely safe and natural. The lipid researcher Jon J. Kabara, Ph.D., speaking of the safety of using fatty acids for medicinal purposes, says: “Fatty acids and derivatives
tend to be the least toxic chemicals known to man. Not only are these agents nontoxic to man but [they] are actual foods and in the case of unsaturated fatty acids are essential to growth, development, and health.”

Coconut oil is composed of about 48 percent lauric acid (a 12-carbon-chain saturated fatty acid), 18 percent myristic acid (a 14-carbon-chain saturated fatty acid), 7 percent capric acid (a 10-carbon-chain saturated fatty acid), 8 percent caprylic acid (an 8-carbon-chain saturated fatty acid), and 0.5 percent caproic acid (a 6-carbon-chain saturated fatty acid). These fatty acids give coconut oil its amazing antimicrobial properties and are generally absent from all other vegetable and animal oils, with the exception of palm kernel oil. Most of the remaining fatty acids in coconut oil have little, if any, antimicrobial effect.

Technically speaking, coconut oil as it is found in fresh coconuts has little, if any, antimicrobial properties. Coconuts can be attacked by fungi and bacteria like any other fruit or nut. I know this sounds contrary to what I’ve said earlier, but the beauty of this is that when we eat the oil, our bodies convert it into a form that is deadly to troublesome microbes yet remains harmless to us.

All dietary oils, including coconut oil, are in the form of triglycerides. Triglycerides are nothing more than three fatty acids hooked together to a glycerol molecule. When oil is eaten, the triglycerides break apart into diglycerides (two fatty acids joined by a glycerol), monoglycerides (one fatty acid attached to a glycerol), and free
fatty acids. It is the monoglycerides and free fatty acids that have the antimicrobial properties. The most active are lauric acid and capric acid and their monoglycerides—monolaurin and monocaprin. The medium-chain fatty acid that has the greatest overall antimicrobial effect is lauric acid and its monoglyceride monolaurin.

In regard to their antimicrobial properties, the monoglycerides and free fatty acids are active, and the diglycerides and triglycerides are inactive. The antimicrobial properties of coconut oil (which consists of triglycerides), therefore, become active only when ingested or otherwise converted into free fatty acids or monoglycerides.

Coconut and palm kernel oils are by far the richest natural sources of lauric acid, which makes up nearly 50 percent of their fat content. Milk fat and butter are a distant second, having about 3 percent. These are the only common food sources that contain any significant amount of lauric acid. Unlike the tropical oils, all vegetable oils are completely deficient in this and other MCFAs.

Lauric acid was first identified in the fruit and seed of the bay laurel tree, which grows in the Mediterranean region. The healing properties of bay laurel seed oil were recognized in ancient times. In Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, and Morocco the oil was used as a folk medicine to improve digestion, as a remedy for bladder and skin diseases, and to provide protection against insect stings. It wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s that scientists began to unlock its healing secrets. Although laurel seeds contain 40 percent lauric acid, coconut and palm kernel oils provide a more abundant source. The medical research on lauric acid and other MCFAs is derived predominantly from the tropical oils.

Because of the many health benefits derived from lauric acid,
researchers have been experimenting recently with ways to increase the amount of it available in our foods. They have been working with a variety of plants in an effort to increase their lauric acid content. Scientists have genetically engineered a new variety of canola called laurate canola that contains 36 percent lauric acid. In time this new canola may wind up being used in a variety of foods.

The research demonstrating the many health benefits of the medium-chain fatty acids and their monoglycerides has been so compelling that companies are now marketing dietary supplements containing these products. Sold under many different brand names, Lauricidin® is a monolaurin supplement currently available from some health food stores and health care professionals. Dozens of health care clinics in the United States are actively using these supplements to treat patients and are achieving extraordinary success. For example, HIV-infected individuals using these supplements under clinical supervision have reported significant improvement in health. One female patient who suffered with ovarian cysts for 20 years began taking the supplement, and within one month the cysts began to shrink and disappear. In another case a man who had had hepatitis C for two decades was put on the supplement. After six months his viral load dropped from 1 million to nondetectable levels. He no longer needed supplemental oxygen to breathe. His liver enzymes
became normal, and he was up and out of his wheelchair living a normal life.

Dietary supplements and genetically engineered vegetable oils are two ways in which the food and health industry is trying to increase our exposure to lauric acid. By far the best and richest natural sources of lauric acid are coconuts and coconut oil. For instance, 1 tablespoon of dried shredded coconut contains about 2 grams of lauric acid. A tablespoon of pure coconut oil contains 7 grams. Besides lauric acid, coconut products also contain other MCFAs, such as capric acid (7 percent) and caprylic acid (8 percent), both of which also have many beneficial effects on health that may be lacking in noncoconut sources.

Until the discovery of antibiotics, medical science had little at its disposal to fight bacterial infections; all doctors could really do was make the patient as comfortable as possible while the body battled the disease. Drugs have now become the standard weapon against disease-causing bacteria, but there are some natural products—foods and herbs—that also exhibit antibiotic properties and that have been used for generations with some degree of success. One of these is coconut oil.

The fatty acids found in coconut are powerful antibiotics. They are known to kill bacteria that can cause numerous illnesses. The table
here
lists some of the bacteria that MCFAs are effective against and the common diseases these organisms cause.

The standard treatment for all these bacterial infections is to use antibiotics, and this may be necessary in life-threatening situations. It is conceivable that instead of taking a drug for every single infection, we could simply eat foods that will kill these organisms. Onions, garlic, and echinacea are edible plants that are commonly used for this purpose already. Coconut appears to be another food that can serve this purpose, perhaps far better than any of the other natural antibiotics.

Take a look at stomach ulcers, for example. A recent analysis estimated that 90 percent of all stomach ulcers are caused by the
H. pylori
bacterium and not excess acid, as was once believed. And MCFAs kill
H. pylori.
In order to treat stomach ulcers there may come a time when your doctor will simply recommend eating more foods cooked in coconut oil. Using the oil regularly may even prevent the infection
altogether. This may also be true for ear infections, pneumonia, food poisoning, and a host of other bacterial illnesses. This is an exciting possibility that needs to be investigated more thoroughly. You don’t need to wait 5 or 10 years, however, for the research to be completed before you can benefit from using coconut oil; because it’s safe to use, you can add it to your diet now without fear.

One of the drawbacks to using antibiotics is that they generally kill a variety of bacteria both good and bad. Our intestines are the home to many “friendly” bacteria that cause no harm and are, in fact, necessary for good health. These friendly bacteria help digest nutrients, synthesize important vitamins (such as vitamin K) that are essential for our well-being, and compete for space with pathogenic or disease-causing bacteria and yeasts. A healthy human will have abundant intestinal bacteria, which prevent disease-causing troublemakers such as candida. Candida is a single-celled fungus or yeast cell that typically inhabits the intestinal tract. As long as good bacteria outnumber the candida and keep it under control, this yeast poses little threat.

When people take antibiotics, these good bacteria are often killed along with the disease-causing ones. This leaves yeast, such as candida, which is not affected by antibiotics, to grow unrestrained, proliferating and overrunning the intestinal tract. The consequence is a yeast overgrowth or infection. Such infections can last for years, causing a wide variety of symptoms ranging from headaches to digestive problems. Often people have systemic candida infections without even knowing it. This is why antifungal medications or probiotics should be taken whenever antibiotics are used. A probiotic supports the growth of friendly bacteria but not the disease-causing kind.

One of the good things about MCFAs is that they kill potentially harmful bacteria but do not harm friendly intestinal bacteria. MCFAs also have antifungal properties so they will kill candida and other fungi in the intestinal tract, supporting a healthy intestinal environment.

Norma Galante, a Boston college student, went to her local medical clinic complaining of vaginal itching and a slight discharge. The physician took a culture of the discharge and examined it under the microscope. He diagnosed a mild bacterial infection and prescribed an antibiotic.

When Norma took the medication, however, it only made the symptoms worse. She went back to the doctor, and he gave her another antibiotic. It didn’t work either. She tried again, and again, but he couldn’t find a medication that would help. “I kept going back to the clinic, and the doctors kept prescribing different antibiotics,” Norma says. Out of frustration, the physician finally prescribed a topical anticandida cream to see if that would be of any help. While candida is not affected by antibiotics, it can be treated topically with antifungal creams and suppositories. Her symptoms subsided. She felt relieved. At last, she thought, her problem was solved.

Yeast infections are persistent and often recur, as was the case with Norma. It wasn’t long before she had another infection. The medications she used seemed to relieve the symptoms, but within a few months they would flare up again. Before long she began to develop other fungal infections like athlete’s foot and skin rashes (ringworm).
Fungal infections of one sort or another became an ongoing nuisance. She felt chronically fatigued. Everything she did seemed to tire her. She became depressed. “The doctors didn’t have any answers,” she recalls. “To them I had a minor problem, but I was living with the itching and the fatigue every day; it wasn’t a minor problem for me.”

After receiving little help from her doctors, she began searching for an answer herself. She scoured health food stores for books and information on yeast infections. After studying these materials she realized she was suffering from a systemic or entire-body candida infection. She cut sugar out of her diet and began taking a dietary supplement derived from coconut oil called caprylic acid. It worked! Both the vaginal yeast and skin infections healed. Without the constant strain of fighting the infection, her energy returned. She was able to function normally again without feeling constantly fatigued. “I was so relieved to find something that brought my energy back,” she says.