The Coconut Oil Miracle (20 page)

It is important that mother’s milk contain as much MCFAs as nature will allow. Given an ample supply of food containing MCFAs, a nursing mother will produce a milk rich in these health-promoting nutrients. While cow’s milk and other dairy products contain small amounts, the foods richest in medium-chain fatty acids are the tropical oils, principally coconut oil.

The levels of these antimicrobial fatty acids can be as low as 3 to 4 percent,
but when nursing mothers eat coconut products (shredded coconut, coconut milk, coconut oil, etc.) the levels of MCFAs in their milk increase significantly. For instance, eating 40 grams (about 3 tablespoons) of coconut oil in one meal can temporarily increase the lauric acid in the milk of a nursing mother from 3.9 percent to 9.6 percent after 14 hours. The content of caprylic and capric acids also increases. If the mother consumes coconut oil every day while nursing, the MCFA content will be even greater.

Preparation by the mother should start before the baby is born. Pregnant women store fat to be used later in making their milk. After the baby is born, the fatty acids stored in the mother’s body and supplied by her daily diet are used in the production of her milk. If she has eaten and continues to eat foods that supply ample amounts of MCFAs, particularly lauric acid and capric acid (the two most important antimicrobial medium-chain fatty acids), her milk will provide maximum benefit to her baby. These mothers can have as much as 18 percent of the saturated fatty acids in their milk in the form of lauric and capric acids. If, on the other hand, the mother did not eat foods containing MCFAs and does not eat them while nursing, her mammary glands will only be capable of producing about 3 percent lauric acid and 1 percent capric acid.

MCFAs are vital nutrients and protectors found naturally in human milk. They are deadly enough to kill viruses yet gentle enough to nourish a premature infant to health. As we grow to adulthood and beyond, our bodies begin to wear down. MCFAs can help nourish and protect us from infectious and degenerative disease. It appears that coconut oil provides many health benefits to those who are very young and those who are very old and all those in between.

The inflammatory intestinal disease known as Crohn’s is characterized by diarrhea, abdominal pain, bleeding ulcers, bloody stools, anemia, and weight loss. Ulcerations can occur anywhere along the digestive tract from the mouth to the rectum. Ulcerative colitis is a similar disease that affects the colon—the lower part of the intestinal tract. At times these chronic conditions can become debilitating. The ability of the intestines to absorb food is hampered, which may lead to nutritional deficiencies. Sufferers find that certain foods aggravate symptoms, and therefore they are constantly challenged to find foods that they can tolerate. Like many other chronic illnesses, Crohn’s disease has no known cure. Drugs can ease the symptoms, but if conditions become too severe, surgical removal of the infected organ is usually recommended.

However, interestingly enough, researchers have demonstrated the benefits of coconut oil for patients with digestive problems, including Crohn’s disease, at least since the 1980s. The anti-inflammatory and healing effects of coconut oil apparently play a role in soothing and healing the inflammation and injury in the digestive tract that are characteristic of Crohn’s disease. Its antimicrobial properties also affect intestinal health by killing troublesome microorganisms that may cause chronic inflammation.

Dr. L. A. Cohen of the Naylor Dana Institute for Disease Prevention in Valhalla, New York, notes the ease with which MCFAs in coconut are digested and absorbed and says they “have found use in the clinic as a means to provide high energy lipid to patients with
disorders of lipid digestion (pancreatitis), lipid absorption (Crohn’s disease), and lipid transport (chylomicron deficiency).” Simply eating foods made with coconut or coconut oil can be beneficial for conditions like Crohn’s. Eating cookies made with flaked coconut has made an impact on Gerald Brinkley, a Crohn’s disease sufferer for 30 years. “When I read that eating coconut macaroons could ease symptoms,” Brinkley says, “I decided to try them myself. Coincidence or not, my symptoms have improved since I began eating two cookies a day.”

Teresa Graedon, Ph.D., the co-author of
The People’s Pharmacy Guide to Herbal and Home Remedies,
says that during the research for her book she heard enough testimonials about the benefit of using coconut for Crohn’s disease to be convinced it is one home remedy that may have important medical significance and believes strongly that more research should be pursued in this area. I have also heard similar stories. For example, one case in Hawaii involved a small child who suffered from an intestinal problem so severe that almost any food, including milk, aggravated symptoms. The child was wasting away because he couldn’t tolerate most of the foods he was given. A native Hawaiian told the mother to feed the child the “jelly” inside an immature coconut. She took the woman’s advice, and the child thrived, eating a diet consisting primarily of coconut jelly (unripened coconut meat). Knowing what we know scientifically about the digestibility of coconut oil, it makes sense that it would be of benefit to those with digestive problems.

While the cause of Crohn’s disease is still unknown, many doctors feel it is the result of a bacterial or viral infection. Stomach ulcers, for example, are caused primarily by the bacterium
H. pylori.
It’s possible
that this bacterium or a similar one could also infect other areas of the digestive tract. Several studies have shown that the measles and mumps viruses might be involved in the development of Crohn’s disease. In fact, a persistent low-grade measles infection in the intestine is common in many Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis patients. Those who have had measles or mumps in the past and now suffer from some type of inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis are likely to harbor a low-grade intestinal infection that the body has not been able to overcome. The evidence for measles infection as a cause or at least a contributing factor is very convincing. In one study, for example, 36 Crohn’s disease patients, 22 ulcerative colitis patients, and 89 people free of irritable bowel disease symptoms (controls) were tested. Twenty-eight (78 percent) of the 36 Crohn’s disease patients and 13 (59 percent) of the 22 ulcerative colitis patients tested positive to the measles virus as compared to only 3 (3.3 percent) of the 89 of the control patients.
H. pylori
bacteria and the measles virus are both killed by the MCFAs in coconut oil. If the symptoms characteristic of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are also caused by these or some other microorganism, then coconut oil may be beneficial in treating these conditions.

Eating macaroons to ease symptoms of Crohn’s disease, as strange as it may sound, does have some scientific backing. For those who have Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, stomach ulcers, or other digestive problems, you don’t have to eat coconut cookies to get relief—any food prepared with coconut oil or coconut milk would work just as well.

One of the advantages of using MCFAs in baby formula is that they help with the absorption of other nutrients. The absorption of calcium and magnesium, as well as amino acids, has been found to increase when infants are fed a diet containing coconut oil. Coconut oil has been used for the purpose of enhancing absorption and retaining calcium and magnesium in people when a deficiency of these minerals exists. This is one of the reasons why hospitals give premature and sick infants formulas containing MCFAs. It is also used to treat children suffering with rickets, which involves a demineralization and softening of the bones similar to osteoporosis in adults.

Regardless of your age, your bones can benefit from coconut oil. Dietary fats play a role in the formation of our bones. Researchers at Purdue University found that free radicals from oxidized vegetable oils interfere with bone formation, thus contributing to osteoporosis. They also discovered that antioxidants such as vitamin E protect the bones from free radicals. In addition, they found that saturated fats, like those in coconut oil, also act as antioxidants and protect the bones from destructive free radicals.

Fresh coconut and virgin coconut oil contain fatlike substances called sterols that are very similar in structure to pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is a substance our bodies manufacture from sterols to make hormones such as dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and progesterone. When women’s bodies are in need of these hormones, pregnenolone is used as the starting material to make them. According to John Lee, M.D., the reason women are often plagued with osteoporosis as they get older is that they have an imbalance of progesterone to estrogen.
Environmental estrogens from meat, milk, and pesticides dilute natural progesterone. In clinical practice Dr. Lee has had women use progesterone to increase their body’s reserves of this hormone. Bone density tests before and after treatment showed a clear reversal of osteoporosis. Dr. Lee has outlined his findings in his book
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause.
It is believed that pregnenolone, which is converted into progesterone in women, has the same bone-building effect. If this is true, the pregnenolonelike substances in coconut may also aid in maintaining hormone balance and promoting healthy bones.

This may be why populations that consume coconuts as a major part of their diets are rarely troubled by osteoporosis. For those who are concerned about developing osteoporosis as they get older, coconut oil may be useful in helping to slow down this degenerative process by improving mineral absorption, protecting the bones from free radicals, and maintaining hormone balance.

Anyone who has had their gallbladder removed knows that eating too much fat can cause pain and cramping. Such people would greatly benefit from using coconut oil in their diet in place of other oils.

The purpose of the gallbladder is to store and regulate the use of bile. The function of bile in the digestive process is often given little notice, but it is essential. The liver produces bile at a relatively constant rate. As the bile is secreted, it drains into and is collected by the gallbladder. The gallbladder functions as a container to hold bile. Fats and oils in our foods stimulate the gallbladder to pump bile into the
intestine. An adequate amount of bile is essential for the digestion of fats because it emulsifies or breaks the fat into small particles. Digestive enzymes from the pancreas can break the small particles of fat down into individual fatty acids, which can then be absorbed. Without bile, fat-digesting enzymes could not complete the job of digestion; this would lead to serious nutritional deficiencies and disease.

When the gallbladder is surgically removed, fat digestion is greatly hindered. Without the gallbladder, the bile, which is continually being secreted by the liver, slowly drains into the small intestine. The tiny amount of bile that drains directly from the liver into the intestine is not enough to function adequately in fat digestion when even moderate amounts of fat are consumed. This leads to malabsorption of fat-soluble vitamins and to digestive problems. Bile must be present in the intestine to properly absorb fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K and beta-carotene). The consequence of not getting enough of these vitamins may not be immediately noticeable but over time will manifest itself in a variety of ways.

Metabolism of MCFAs does not require bile or pancreatic enzymes, so someone who has had his or her gallbladder removed or who has trouble digesting fats would greatly benefit from the use of coconut oil.

Coconut oil may be one of the best solutions to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) currently available. Once considered an imaginary ailment, CFS is now recognized as a bona fide illness. While its cause is still pretty much a mystery, it has become a problem of growing
concern. It is estimated that some 3 million Americans and 90 million people worldwide are affected by it.

This illness is characterized by a relatively sudden onset of extreme fatigue, often following an infectious illness. Symptoms may include any of the following: muscle weakness, headache, memory loss, mental confusion, recurring infections, low-grade fever, swollen lymph glands, severe exhaustion following moderate physical activity, depression, anxiety attacks, dizziness, rashes, allergies, and autoimmune reactions. Symptoms that persist for six months or more are a strong indication of CFS.

The degree and severity of symptoms often fluctuate. An afflicted person may temporarily “recover” and function normally for a while, only to relapse a short time later. Many people are affected without even realizing it. They assume their symptoms are due to age, stress, or seasonal illness, and they do nothing to solve the problem.

The exact cause of the illness is still unknown, and there is no standard medical test to detect it. Consequently, a cure has yet to be found. The current belief is that CFS does not have a single cause but is the result of many factors. Some believe it is the result of multiple chronic infections that depress the immune system and drain the body of energy. Poor nutrition, excessive stress, food and environmental toxins, and chronic infections all combine to lower immune function and drain energy. Many people believe that a depressed immune system is the primary cause of the problem.

Murry Susser, M.D., of Santa Monica, California, says, “CFS can start with ordinary viral infections like those that cause respiratory infections like the common cold and flu. There are 2,300 viruses
which can cause a cold or flu and if one of those hits you and your body isn’t able to get rid of it, then you have a chronic infection. That’s really what chronic fatigue behaves like: the flu that never got better. I sometimes call it ‘the flu that became always.’”

Any number of viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites can contribute to chronic fatigue. The most likely causes are the herpes virus, the Epstein-Barr virus, candida, and giardia. Some infections, especially viruses such as herpes, can persist for a lifetime. For example, herpes can cause fever blisters and genital lesions. The blisters may disappear temporarily, only to reappear occasionally when the efficiency of the body’s immune system drops, especially as a result of stress.