Ever since the new coconut oil hype started I haven't been able to put it down. I use it to cook my food, I moisturize my body with it, I even use it to condition my hair. I mean, aren't we all using it since it's all the rage? But what if someone told you that coconut oil wasn't all it's been hyped up to be? Is this thing really as healthy as they say?
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According to Tom Brenna, a professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University's College of Human Ecology, coconut oil has its pros and cons. He claims that because not all coconut oil is created the same you're not always getting the good stuff. Also, the reason why coconut oil wasn't considered as healthy back in the day (in let's say the 80s) is because it was a much more highly-processed version.
"The older refined-deodorized bleached coconut oil causes rapid and unhealthy looking rises in cholesterol, for sure, no doubt," Brenna told the Huffington Post. "There is no evidence that that is the case for virgin coconut oil, which is available today but was not in the 1970s and '80s when people were using RDB coconut oil."
Today we can easily find organic, unrefined version on the aisles of even regular supermarkets. But is it really as beneficial as we think it is? "It has properties that are promising, but we need a lot more research before we can say this is the superfood of 2014," Kristin Kirkpatrick MS, RD, LD manager of wellness nutrition services for the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute told Huffington Post.
The other issue is that even though coconut oil is healthy, a lot of people don't realize that it's still made up of 90 percent saturated fat. "We don't really know how coconut oil affects heart disease," Walter C. Willett, M.D. chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School for Public Health said. "And I don't think coconut oil is as healthful as vegetable oils like olive oil and soybean oil, which are mainly unsaturated fat and therefore both lower LDL and increase HDL."
So what's the deal? Well I don't know about you, but I'm still sticking with coconut oil until studies tell me otherwise. Maybe I'll just try not to overdo it!
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