Coconut Oil Isn’t Healthy – The Cold Hard Green Truth

After reading USA Today’s article from the American Heart Association “Coconut Oil isn’t Healthy – it never was” , I had to write a response:

First, let’s address the fact that they say coconut oil raises LDL.

What’s interesting, is that 50% of people hospitalized because of heart attacks have “normal” cholesterol levels. Over the past several years, it’s been proven that elevated insulin is what puts you at a greater risk of heart disease. Carbohydrates raise your insulin levels, fats do not. Old science only talked about good and bad cholesterol but new science has found that there are two types of LDL – large, fluffy ones and small, dense ones. Only the dense ones are associated with arterial plaque and can increase the risk of heart disease. Next time that you get your blood work done, have them determine your ratio of triglycerides to HDL cholesterol. If the ratio is less than 2, you have predominately large fluffy LDL particles that won’t do you much harm. If the ratio is greater than 4, you have a lot of small dense LDL particles that can elevate the risk of heart disease. A rise in LDL by saturated fat, like coconut oil, does not necessarily mean an increased risk for heart disease.

The Author behind “Coconut Oil Isn’t Healthy”

Now let’s address the author of this article, Dr. Frank Sacks. It didn’t take much research on my part to find where Dr. Sacks has received multiple payments from pharmaceutical companies. The biggest one being Pfizer, the makers of Lipitor…a cholesterol lowering medication. In 2016, the American Heart Association received over $12,2000,000 from AstraZeneca, an antibiotic company bought by Pfizer. That’s just one of many pharmaceutical companies I found that contribute financially to the AHA.

Now what really gets my goat is their suggestion of us using vegetable oil instead of coconut oil. I shouldn’t be surprised though since many vegetable oil’s are made from soy bean and corn which is extremely profitable for our government and great job security for the pharmaceutical companies. But in case you were buying into the hype that vegetable oil is healthier for you than coconut oil, let me give you a brief explanation as to how it is made:

Step 1: Genetically modified ingredients are picked.
Step 2: Heat the ingredients to unnaturally high temperatures so that they oxidize. Oxidation is lethal to your body.
Step 3: Process with a petroleum solvent to extract the oil from the ingredients.
Step 4: Heat up some more and add some acid to remove any wax solids that formed during the first processing.
Step 5: Treat the oil with more chemicals to improve the color.
Step 6: Deodorize the oil to mask the terrible smell from the chemical processing.
Step 7: Then you can even hydrogenate it so it becomes a solid. Now you have margarine and all its trans-fatty goodness.

Everyone knows trans fat wreaks MAJOR havoc on our health – but “Coconut Oil isn’t healthy”. Cold pressed coconut is still considered a raw food. Not much processing going on there. More from the farm people and less from the factory! And then to add insult to injury, polyunsaturated vegetable oils are highly unstable and they oxidize easily. These kind of oxidized fats cause inflammation and mutation in cells. It’s linked to all sorts of issues like cancer, endometriosis, PCOS and heart disease (duhhh!)!

Why is the AHA recommending them??

Oh yeah, PROFIT! What saddens me the most is that doctors, teachers and organizations, who probably started off with our best interests at heart, have resorted to putting money above all else. It seems like our once trusted health care educators and providers are now being completely seduced and won over by the very rich and persuasive pharmaceutical Don Juan. All I can ask is that you don’t take these sorts of articles and information as iron clad because with just a little bit of research done yourself, you’ll find an ulterior motive…one that probably has lots of dollar signs attached.

So when you ask me what I think about the article that says “Coconut Oil isn’t healthy”, I’d tell you take all “scientific research” with a pinch of salt, and check money and influence isn’t corrupting the author. (I’ll continue using my Coconut Oil 😉 )

Sources

https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/doctors/pid/232644