This is prompted by p3d1's post "Mediterranean diet: How to start and stay on it - CNN" [1]. The link contains [2]:
"Stay away from coconut and palm oil, warns Al Bochi. Even though they are plant-based, those oils are high in saturated fats that will raise bad cholesterol."
NPfisherman posted a Mayo link [3] with a quote by Cardiologist Dr. Stephen Kopecky:
“Forty years ago, a study was done looking at butter, lard, beef suet or coconut oil. Which one raised your bad cholesterol the most? And guess what? It was the coconut oil.”
This is not proof that coconut oil will increase one's risk of a heart attack.
...
The U.S. obsession with cholesterol & saturated fat goes back to Ancel Keys in the 1950's. His view was that heart disease was caused by elevated cholesterol, which in the American diet was due to saturated animal fat. Must be true - Eisenhower had his heart attack in 1955 after eating a burger!
Key's influence is due to research money not becoming available to those who did not embrace Key's theory. In the U.K. there was the competing sugar theory (Yudkin) of heart disease. Key's disciples were committed to the fat theory & had no choice but to attack Yudkin & undermine the sugar hypothesis. Some even accepted mony from Big Sugar.
Saturated fat comes in many lengths. Fatty acids are carbon chains, where each carbon atom may or may not be attached to hydrogen atoms. If the chain is fully hydrogenated, the fatty acid is said to be saturated. When saturated, the chain isn't able to bend, & the fat tends to be solid at room temperature. This is very important to the baked goods industry.
In the 1980s millionaire Phil Sokolof launched a campaign against Nabisco & other companies that were using tropical saturated fats (coconut & palm oils). It was very successful & it is now common to see "No saturated fat" on U.S. product labels. As though that makes Oreos a health food (actually, the crème filling was once made with lard, not coconut oil.)
Keys was not against saturated fats as a class - he was against animal saturated fats. The most demonized of which is stearate - stearic acid - named after the Greek for tallow (18 carbons).
From a Keys paper (1965) [4]:
"Controlled dietary experiments at the University of Minnesota and at 2 other centers, provide 63 sets of comparisons of serum cholesterol averages for groups of men on each of 2 chemically characterized diets. Least-squares analysis indicates that stearic acid, as well as saturated fatty acids containing fewer than 12 carbon atoms, have little or no effect on serum cholesterol in man."
It's an amazing admission - stearic acid (candle wax) has no affect on cholesterol.
The fats not off the hook were:
12 carbons - Lauric acid
14 carbons - Myristic acid
16 carbons - Palmitic acid
Coconut oil is 41.840% Lauric, 16.653 Myristic & 8.636 Palmitic acid.
Palmitic acid is easily dismissed, since it "is the most common saturated fatty acid found in animals", including men. While it is the preferred fuel for healthy prostate cells & most PCa cells, it can't really be avoided. "In humans, one analysis found it to make up 21–30% (molar) of human depot fat"
Recognize that the body makes fat. "Palmitic acid is the first fatty acid produced during fatty acid synthesis and is the precursor to longer fatty acids." One can't escape by eliminating dietary fat: "Excess carbohydrates in the body are converted to palmitic acid." Yes - carbs turn into fat!
Above quotes are from Wikipedia [5]
I wrote about Myristic acid 2 years ago [6]:
"Foods/Supplements-Vitamins: Fats - [3] Myristic acid"
Seems like a fat to avoid. I do not use coconut oil.
-Patrick
[1] healthunlocked.com/advanced...
[2] cnn.com/2019/01/03/health/m...
[3] newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/...
[4] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/252...
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