Coconut oil

Coconut oil is currently being touted by some in the fad diet industry as a health food. Some of them go so far as to say you should take raw coconut oil as a dietary supplement in addition to cooking with it.

According to one researcher, coconut oil is "better than butter and trans fats but not as good as liquid vegetable oils."

Myths

 * Coconut oil is good for you.
 * Coconut oil's bad reputation is undeserved. It is partially hydrogenated coconut oil, not virgin coconut oil, that is unhealthy.
 * Taking coconut oil as a dietary supplement will help you lose weight.
 * Taking coconut oil as a dietary supplement cures whatever ails you.
 * Anything bad you hear about coconut oil is part of a conspiracy to keep people poor in the Philippines and Malaysia (where much of it is produced).
 * Anything bad you hear about coconut oil is part of a conspiracy by the soybean lobby to block competition.
 * Coconut oil advocacy is a conspiracy by agents of the Philippine and Malaysian governments.
 * Coconut oil's saturated fat, saturated fat in general, was demonized by the all powerful sugar industry in the 1950s
 * The saturated fat in coconut oil is a special kind of saturated fat and is not bad for you like other saturated fats are.
 * Coconut oil cures colon cancer.

Facts

 * Coconut oil is 92% saturated fat. That's a higher saturated fat concentration than butter, and over twice the saturated fat level of lard.
 * One tablespoon of the stuff contains 60% of the daily recommended limit of saturated fat. If you take a tablespoon with each meal plus fry your eggs, bacon, and goat burgers in it, don't be surprised when you wind up in heart surgery having it taken out of your arteries with a plumber's help.
 * About half the saturated fat in coconut oil is in the form of lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid. While a few scientific studies suggest that lauric acid raises HDL cholesterol more than it raises LDL cholesterol and that lauric acid may even be better for your overall cholesterol picture than monounsaturated fats (like the ones in soybean oil or canola oil), there are no studies showing that the combination of all saturated fats found in coconut oil (including the half that aren't lauric acid) is any less unhealthy than other saturated fats. In fact, nearly 17% of coconut oil is myristic acid, which is known to be horrible for your cholestrol picture.
 * Coconut oil advocacy as a health food is often linked to denialism of the role of cholesterol (specifically, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides) in heart disease.
 * Coconut oil advocacy is mainly from unscrupulous players in the dietary fad and food woo industries who sell the stuff; it is probably not helpful to the debate to invoke claims of a southeast Asian government conspiracy. The truth is bad enough as it is.
 * Coconut oil does not cure colon cancer. There is very weak evidence that it may be helpful in preventing the condition from arising.
 * Coconut oil is sold as and used in making Rice Crispie treats in some countries, among other things.
 * If your taste or texture relies on saturated fat, virgin coconut oil is about the best you can use. That doesn't make it good.