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well coir is high in natural plant hormones which promote growth
kinda like seaweed does
we also used to have a serious water retention problem
and that's been cured
keep in mind that coir wasn't our only amendment
it was one of many
and it has to be replenished from time to time
and that can be quite expensive
but I still use it when I make my own potting soil mix for starter plants and transplants
check that post again
my wife order the 4 item sample pack
never thought of that
has any mentioned the fiber from coconut husks
COIR
I've used it with success as part of developing my white clay soil
into the black beautiful full of worms soil it is today
2nd link was broken.....
ok, like a sucker to the penny stock trough
Where oh where do I buy these amazing products and get the best price?
do you get Ginsu knives with these?
hehe....couldn't resist
ahhhh....go to the first link with the article and the 2nd link is good there to spend your $
Have you ever heard of coconut nectar? How about coconut aminos as a replacement for soy sauce? Or coconut vinegar that's rich in minerals? There are all sorts of amazing superfood products derived from coconut trees. Read my article to learn more about what these are and how you can get them:
http://www.naturalnews.com/030110_coconut_nectar_vinegar.html
I really find a lot of joy in bringing you some of the most unique and amazing natural food products from around the world, and this week I've got something so unusual and delightful that you'll be amazed it even exists. It turns out that coconut trees produce a lot more than just coconuts and coconut oil. A whole spectrum of surprising food ingredients are derived from coconut trees, and you've probably never heard of most of them.
For example, did you know that coconut trees produce their own soy sauce? It's not really made from soy, of course. It's called Coconut Aminos, and it's a dark, amino acid liquid harvested directly from coconut tree sap. Containing 17 naturally-occurring amino acids, this sap is combined with mineral-rich sea salt to create a soy-sauce-like "aminos" liquid that can help flavor salads, raw vegan dishes, sauces or even Chinese stir-fried cuisine.
Think of it as a natural replacement for soy sauce, but with a deeper and more complex taste. You've got to try this to believe that it really comes from coconut trees!
And there's another huge benefit, too: This "liquid aminos" product has absolutely no reactive MSG-like effects. That's rare because even in the natural products industry, there are amino acid products that contain a small amount of naturally-occurring glutamic acid that can have an MSG-like effect on those who are sensitive to it (like me). But the aminos from this coconut sap are completely unadulterated and non-hydrolyzed, so they remain in their natural form and have no negative effects on people sensitive to MSG. You can read more about this here: http://coconutsecret.com/Tappingthe...
This coconut liquid amino product, by the way, is 100% certified organic, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free and vegan! Click here to check it out.
Coconut nectar is naturally sweet and highly nutritious
The next item you may not have known about that comes from coconut trees is Coconut Nectar. It's a very low glycemic liquid sweetener derived from the liquid sap of the coconut blossoms, and it naturally contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients (including vitamin C).
The manufacturer says the glycemic index of this liquid is 35, making it one of the lowest among any sweeteners. I haven't yet been able to independently verify that claim, but we are in the process of doing that through additional lab tests. In the mean time, the natural fructose content of this coconut nectar is so amazingly low that it becomes an instant no-brainer replacement for agave nectar. In fact, in my kitchen, I stopped using agave nectar quite a while ago and now use palm sugar crystals and coconut nectar.
Natural coconut blossom sap, by the way, is only 1.5% fructose when collected from the blossoms. As this sap is dried and thickened, removing much of the water, the fructose content of the final liquid only reaches about 10% -- far lower than the 50% - 90% fructose found in agave nectar products.
This makes coconut nectar a really smart choice for a natural sweetener. You have to try this yourself to believe how good it is. Click here to see more details at the NaturalNews Store.
Coconut crystals
If you take the coconut nectar described above and air dry it down to its crystalline form, you get coconut crystals! Think of it as "evaporated cane sugar" except it's not from cane sugar. It's from coconut tree blossoms and it has a far lower glycemic index than cane sugar.
These crystals are nutrient rich, loaded with vitamins and minerals, and they have a naturally brown or sandy color (indicating higher nutrition than white sugar). Although this product isn't yet certified organic, that certification is pending, and it's harvested from trees that are grown entirely without pesticides or herbicides.
It is completely unrefined, unbleached, non-GMO, gluten-free, etc. Very good stuff!
Get more details here about coconut crystals at the NaturalNews Store.
Coconut vinegar - better than apple cider vinegar?
There are some really great apple cider vinegar products on the market that are used by health food enthusiasts everywhere, and they're really good for you! But I think coconut vinegar may be even better because it comes from a source that's naturally higher in minerals and other phytonutrients.
It's high in potassium, for example, and also quite abundant in a naturally-occurring probiotic called FOS. Although vinegar is chemically acidic, it is believed to create an alkalizing effect inside the body during digestion, probably due to its high content of alkalizing minerals.
This coconut vinegar is made by aging (fermenting) coconut sap from coconut tree blossoms. This is raw, certified organic coconut vinegar made from the sap, not coconut water. (There is a huge difference between "sap" vinegars and "water" vinegars in terms of nutritional density.)
Click here to learn more about coconut vinegar.
Get all four at a special combo price
I know you'll want to try these unique, nutritionally abundant superfood products. Your friends and family will be totally intrigued by these, by the way, because few people have ever heard of these unique coconut food products (much less actually tried them).
To help you try all these products at a great price, we've put together a combo pack containing:
• Coconut Aminos 8 fl. oz.
• Coconut Crystals 12 oz.
• Coconut Nectar 12 fl. oz.
• Coconut Vinegar 12.7 fl. oz.
You'll get one bottle of each (four products in total) at a special price for NaturalNews readers. Click here to take advantage of the "coconut secret combo pack."
Coconut flour works in thousands of recipes
In addition to the rare and unique coconut products described above, we've also got 100% certified organic coconut flour, made from non-heated, tumbler-dried coconut meat (with the oils already pressed out). It contains 40% dietary fiber and tastes absolutely delicious!
You can add coconut flour to smoothies, gravy recipes, breads and other baked goods. I like to blend it right into smoothies (when I can't get fresh coconut meat).
Coconut flour is a highly diverse superfood ingredient with all kinds of uses! Click here to pick some up at the NaturalNews store.
Enjoy these unique foods!
I sincerely hope you enjoy these unique fine food ingredients derived from coconut trees. I'm always impressed to learn just how versatile coconut trees really are, and until recently I didn't even know about several of these products.
As you know, I'm extremely selective about the kinds of food products I publicize or promote because I want you to be really amazed when we find something good. These coconut tree derived products are truly unique, and if you're into healthy eating, you won't want to miss out on experiencing these for yourself.
Think about this, too: Coconut trees grow near mineral-rich ocean waters, so products derived from coconut trees are often very high in natural minerals (because the soils near the ocean are high in minerals themselves).
We all know that natural plant-based minerals offer supportive nutrition for human health, and these coconut tree products offer some of the best sources for naturally-occurring minerals anywhere.
it's been a while but I recall that palm oil is supposed to be good as well
I love it, and also use palm oil (white or red but red is probably
the best because of the natural vitamin E and caroteen)
but I still use butter some times for eggs but not real hot.
their current "sale" price on a 5 gal pail isn't too bad
passed it on to my wife
I'd like to try cooking with it
Thx,
I using it for 4months , and feeling good with it ..
Carlito, thanks for the boardmark and welcome to the world of coconut oil, if you are already not using it.
For over four years, I've been using coconut concentrate for stir fry cooking, spreading it on toast, including it in my daily oatmeal.
I have found that coconut in my diet supports my extensive gardening and walking activities.
sumisu
How We Discovered Virgin Coconut Oil - An Interview with Brian Shilhavy, CEO Tropical Traditions
Discover the Superfood Power of Coconut
http://www.naturalnews.com/029841_coconut_superfood.html
WHAT IF THERE WAS A CURE FOR
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NO ONE KNEW?
http://www.coconutketones.com/whatifcure.pdf
Coconut Oil and Alzheimer’s Disease
http://www.anh-usa.org/coconut-oil-and-alzheimer%e2%80%99s-disease/
How worried should drug companies be about supplements eating into their monopoly profits? A lot—as this story will show. Please share it with anyone you know who is suffering from Alzheimer’s or is worried about it.
Of course, just about everyone worries about Alzheimer’s. It currently afflicts 5.2 million people in the US and is the seventh leading cause of death. The cost of treating it is estimated at $148 billion.
Mary Newport, MD, has been medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Florida since it opened in 2003. About the same time the unit opened, her husband Steve, then 53, began showing signs of progressive dementia, later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s Disease. “Many days, often for several days in a row, he was in a fog; couldn’t find a spoon or remember how to get water out of the refrigerator,” she said.
They started him on Alzheimer’s drugs—Aricept, Namenda, Exelon—but his disease worsened steadily. (It should be noted that the latest research shows that the various Alzheimer’s drugs, like Aricept, have proven disappointing, with little real benefit and often distressing side effects.) When Dr. Newport couldn’t get her husband into a drug trial for a new Alzheimer’s medication, she started researching the mechanism behind Alzheimer’s.
She discovered that with Alzheimer’s disease, certain brain cells may have difficulty utilizing glucose (made from the carbohydrates we eat), the brain’s principal source of energy. Without fuel, these precious neurons may begin to die. There is an alternative energy source for brain cells—fats known as ketones. If deprived of carbohydrates, the body produces ketones naturally.
But this is the hard way to do it—who wants to cut carbohydrates out of the diet completely? Another way to produce ketones is by consuming oils that have medium-chain triglycerides. When MCT oil is digested, the liver converts it into ketones. In the first few weeks of life, ketones provide about 25 percent of the energy newborn babies need to survive.
Dr. Newport learned that the ingredient in the drug trial which was showing so much promise was simply MCT oil derived from coconut oil or palm kernel oil, and that a dose of 20 grams (about 20 ml or 4 teaspoons) was used to produce these results. When MCT oil is metabolized, the ketones which the body creates may, according to the latest research, not only protect against the incidence of Alzheimer’s, but may actually reverse it. Moreover, this is also a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug-resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and type II (insulin-resistant) diabetes.
So Mr. Newport, not being able to get into the drug trial, started taking the coconut oil twice a day. At this point, he could barely remember how to draw a clock. Two weeks after adding coconut oil to his diet, his drawing improved. After 37 days, Steve’s drawing gained even more clarity. The oil seemed to “lift the fog,” and in the first sixty days, Dr. Newport saw remarkable changes in him: every morning he was alert and happy, talkative, making jokes. His gait was “still a little weird,” but his tremor was no longer very noticeable. He was able to concentrate on things that he wanted to do around the house and in the yard and stay on task, whereas before coconut oil he was easily distractible and rarely accomplished anything unless he was directly supervised.
Over the next year, the dementia continued to reverse itself: he is able to run again, his reading comprehension has improved dramatically, and his short-term memory is improving—he often brings up events that happened days to weeks earlier and relays telephone conversations with accurate detail. A recent MRI shows that the brain atrophy has been completely halted.
Let’s take a moment to consider what actually happened here. Synthetic (patentable) Alzheimer’s drugs have failed. A drug company reluctantly decides to put a non-patentable natural substance (medium-chain triglycerides derived from coconut or palm) through an FDA trial. It works. But, darn it, a smart doctor figures out that a natural food can be substituted for the super-expensive drug. Not only that, the ketones from natural coconut oil last in the body longer than the drug version—eight hours instead of three hours. This is enough to make a drug company start worrying about its future. What if this natural health idea really catches on? Goodbye to monopoly profits!
Coconut oil can be found in many health food stores and even some grocery stores. One large chain sells a non-hydrogenated (no trans-fat) brand of coconut oil in a one-liter size (nearly 32 ounces) for about $7. It can be purchased in quantities as small as a pint and up to five gallons online. It is important to use coconut oil that is non-hydrogenated and contains no trans-fat. We would also strongly encourage the use of virgin oil (chemicals used to extract non-virgin oil are potentially dangerous, and better still, virgin organic, still quite reasonably priced.)
For more information, see Dr. Newport’s website. Sadly, you will not find any information on ketones, or the use of coconut oil or MCT oil, on the Alzheimer’s Association website.
Coconut oil is not the only natural product that has the potential to turn Alzheimer’s around. We will cover some other ones, and drug industry efforts to steal some of them, in a future issue.
7 Reasons to Eat More Saturated Fat
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/06/06/saturated-fat/
I’ve invited Dr. Michael Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades, two of my favorite bariatric (obesity treatment) doctors in the US and the first to introduce insulin resistance to the mainstream, to explain the facts and benefits of increased saturated fat intake…
The sub-headings are mine, and a few edits have been made for space and context. Please see Dr. Michael Eades’ references and responses to questions in the comments.
Mid-Section Fat Loss: Problem Solved?
A couple of generations ago two physicians—one on the East Coast, one on the West—while working long hours with many patients, serendipitously stumbled onto a method to rapidly decrease fat around the mid-section. We’re sure that other doctors figured out the same thing, but these two were locally famous and published their methods. Interestingly, neither was looking to help patients lose weight.
Blake Donaldson, M.D., who practiced in Manhattan, was looking for a treatment for allergies; Walter Voegtlin, M.D., a Seattle gastroenterologist, was trying to figure out a better method for treating his patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Dr. Donaldson got his inspiration from a meeting he had with the aforementioned Vilhalmur Stefansson; Dr. Voegtlin came up with the same idea based on his knowledge of comparative anatomy. Though they came at two different questions from very different angles, they arrived at the same dietary answer. Both solved the problems they were seeking to solve and, coincidentally, noticed that their overweight patients lost a tremendous amount of fat from their abdominal areas while undergoing the treatment. As happened later with us and with Dr. Atkins, word of their success in combating obesity spread rapidly, and before long both physicians were deluged with overweight patients seeking treatment, completely changing the character of their medical practices. In retirement, both wrote books about their methods. Donaldson’s was published in 1961; Voegtlin’s in 1972. And as far as we can tell, although their years of practice overlapped, they never knew one another.
What was their secret? What did these two men independently discover? What kind of nutritional regimen did they use to bring about such great results in their patients?
Both had their patients follow an all-meat diet.
An all-meat diet?
Yes, an all-meat diet. Remember that when these physicians were in practice, there hadn’t been all the negative publicity about saturated fat and red meat that there has been in recent years. At that time, most people considered meat as simply another food, just like potatoes, bread, or anything else. No one worried about eating it. The (misguided) hypothesis that fat in the diet causes heart disease hadn’t reared its ugly head, so telling people at that time to go on an all-meat diet didn’t provoke the same sort of knee-jerk emotions that it does—at least in some quarters—now.
The patients who followed these all-meat diets rapidly lost weight from their midsections and improved their blood sugar and blood pressure problems if they had them. Calculations of cholesterol in all its various permutations was still decades away, but both doctors even used the all-meat diet for their patients with heart disease without problem. The all-meat diet proved to be a safe, filling, rapid way to help patients lose abdominal fat while improving their health. And remember, one of these diets was developed to treat GI problems, the other to treat allergies. The rapid weight loss that followed was a surprising, but welcome side effect.
7 Reasons to Eat More Saturated Fat
In the not-so-distant past, the medical establishment considered all fats equally loathsome: all fats were created equal and they’re all bad for you. Things have changed in that quarter, if only slightly. You have no doubt heard the drumbeat of current medical thinking on fats: some fats are now good for you—olive oil and canola oil*—but others are bad for you—trans fats and all saturated fats. That’s an improvement from the old cry, but far from the truth.
It seems that no matter how the story spins from the denizens of the anti-fat camp, one piece of their advice remains staunchly constant: “You should sharply limit your intake of saturated fats.” The next admonition will invariably be, “which have been proven to raise cholesterol and cause heart disease.” Their over-arching belief is that saturated fat is bad, bad, bad.
You see with just a glance at [our suggested meal plans] that we’ve included fatty cuts of meat, chicken with the skin, bacon, eggs, butter, coconut oil, organic lard, and heavy cream in the plan. Aren’t we worried that these foods will increase your risk of heart disease and raise your cholesterol? In a word, nope. In fact, we encourage you to make these important fats a regular part of your healthy diet. Why? Because humans need them and here are just a few reasons why.
1) Improved cardiovascular risk factors
Though you may not have heard of it on the front pages of your local newspaper, online news source, or local television or radio news program, saturated fat plays a couple of key roles in cardiovascular health. The addition of saturated fat to the diet reduces the levels of a substance called lipoprotein (a)—pronounced “lipoprotein little a” and abbreviated Lp(a)—that correlates strongly with risk for heart disease. Currently there are no medications to lower this substance and the only dietary means of lowering Lp(a) is eating saturated fat. Bet you didn’t hear that on the nightly news. Moreover, eating saturated (and other) fats also raises the level of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol. Lastly, research has shown that when women diet, those eating the greatest percentage of the total fat in their diets as saturated fat lose the most weight.
2) Stronger bones
In middle age, as bone mass begins to decline, an important goal (particularly for women) is to build strong bones. You can’t turn on the television without being told you need calcium for your bones, but do you recall ever hearing that saturated fat is required for calcium to be effectively incorporated into bone? According to one of the foremost research experts in dietary fats and human health, Mary Enig, Ph.D., there’s a case to be made for having as much as 50 percent of the fats in your diet as saturated fats for this reason. That’s a far cry from the 7 to 10 percent suggested by mainstream institutions. If her reasoning is sound—and we believe it is— is it any wonder that the vast majority of women told to avoid saturated fat and to selectively use vegetable oils instead would begin to lose bone mass, develop osteoporosis, and get put on expensive prescription medications plus calcium to try to recover the loss in middle age?
3) Improved liver health
Adding saturated fat to the diet has been shown in medical research to encourage the liver cells to dump their fat content. Clearing fat from the liver is the critical first step to calling a halt to middle-body fat storage. Additionally, saturated fat has been shown to protect the liver from the toxic insults of alcohol and medications, including acetaminophen and other drugs commonly used for pain and arthritis, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, and even to reverse the damage once it has occurred. Since the liver is the lynchpin of a healthy metabolism, anything that is good for the liver is good for getting rid of fat in the middle. Polyunsaturated vegetable fats do not offer this protection.
4) Healthy lungs
For proper function, the airspaces of the lungs have to be coated with a thin layer of what’s called lung surfactant. The fat content of lung surfactant is 100 percent saturated fatty acids. Replacement of these critical fats by other types of fat makes faulty surfactant and potentially causes breathing difficulties. Absence of the correct amount and composition of this material leads to collapse of the airspaces and respiratory distress. It’s what’s missing in the lungs of premature infants who develop the breathing disorder called infant respiratory distress syndrome. Some researchers feel that the wholesale substitution of partially hydrogenated (trans) fats for naturally saturated fats in commercially prepared foods may be playing a role in the rise of asthma among children. Fortunately, the heyday of trans fats is ending and their use is on the decline. Unfortunately, however, the unreasoning fear of saturated fat leads many people to replace trans fats with an overabundance of polyunsaturated vegetable oils, which may prove just as unhealthful.
5) Healthy brain
You will likely be astounded to learn that your brain is mainly made of fat and cholesterol. Though many people are now familiar with the importance of the highly unsaturated essential fatty acids found in cold-water fish (EPA and DHA) for normal brain and nerve function, the lion’s share of the fatty acids in the brain are actually saturated. A diet that skimps on healthy saturated fats robs your brain of the raw materials it needs to function optimally.
6) Proper nerve signaling
Certain saturated fats, particularly those found in butter, lard, coconut oil, and palm oil, function directly as signaling messengers that influence the metabolism, including such critical jobs as the appropriate release of insulin. And just any old fat won’t do. Without the correct signals to tell the organs and glands what to do, the job doesn’t get done or gets done improperly.
7) Strong immune system
Saturated fats found in butter and coconut oil (myristic acid and lauric acid) play key roles in immune health. Loss of sufficient saturated fatty acids in the white blood cells hampers their ability to recognize and destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Human breast milk is quite rich in myristic and lauric acid, which have potent germ-killing ability. But the importance of the fats lives on beyond infancy; we need dietary replenishment of them throughout adulthood, middle age, and into seniority to keep the immune system vigilant against the development of cancerous cells as well as infectious invaders.
—
Footnotes:
*We advocate the use of olive oil, but recommend against the use of canola oil, despite its widely perceived healthful reputation. In order to be fit for human consumption, rapeseed oil (which is canola oil) requires significant processing to remove its objectionable taste and smell. Processing damages the oil, creating trans fats. Also, the oil is sensitive to heat, so if used at all, it should never be used to fry foods.
###
The above post is an exclusive excerpt from Dr. Eades’ newest book, which is directed at people who want to reduce abdominal fat. Despite the title, the principles it details are ideal for anyone who wants to decrease both visceral (internal) and subcutaneous (under the skin) fat in the abdomen
The Awful Truth About Coenzyme Q10
by Dennis on November 23, 2009
http://doctorschoicewellness.com/2009/11/the-awful-truth-about-coenzyme-q10/
Effects of Green Leafy Vegetables and Fruits on Health
Author: Prahallad Panda
Published: August 21, 2010 at 8:53 am
http://technorati.com/lifestyle/green/article/effects-of-green-leafy-vegetables-and/#ixzz0xHdDMUu3
Saturated Fat
http://search.mercola.com/Results.aspx?k=saturated%20fat
Tood, thanks for the post. It reminded me to place an order with Tropical Traditions. They had a 2-gallon special for $99 and delivery was about $17; it ends tomorrow.
By the way, I recently had my annual physical. My doctor wanted to know what I thought caused better readings in my blood tests. I attributed it to my taking coconut oil; that was the only change in my diet.
Of course, I am a walking vegetable and avoid most meats, which helps the health cause, as well.
sumi
Ever wonder why raw, organic coconut oil is such a staple in the diets of vegans and raw foodies? Because they know what's good for them, and they use coconut oil in everything from smoothies to their own homemade personal care products.
But you don't have to be a vegan to benefit from coconut oil: It's also great for cooking, too!
In today's feature article, I explore why coconut oil is so good for you, how it's made, and where you can get premium-grade coconut oil at 40% off:
http://www.naturalnews.com/029047_coconut_oil_extra_virgin.html
Raw Organic Virgin Coconut Oil has a hundred uses for health and home
http://www.naturalnews.com/029047_coconut_oil_extra_virgin.html
Palm fruit oil is the richest source of tocotrienols, the other half of the vitamin E equation
http://www.naturalnews.com/028941_tocotrienols_palm_fruit_oil.html
http://www.tocotrienol.org/
Coconut Palm Trees
Coconut Palms (Cocos nucifera)
Conservation status
Secure
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Division:
Magnoliophyta
Class:
Liliopsida
Order:
Arecales
Family:
Arecaceae
Subfamily:
Arecoideae
Tribe:
Cocoeae
Genus:
Cocos
Species:
C. nucifera
Binomial name
Cocos nucifera
L.
Coconut germinating on Black Sand Beach, Island of Hawaii
The Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family). It is the only species in the genus Cocos, and is a large palm, growing to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4-6 m long, pinnae 60-90 cm long; old leaves break away cleanly leaving the trunk smooth. The term coconut refers to the fruit of the coconut palm. An alternate spelling is cocoanut.
The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropical world, for decoration as well as for its many culinary and non-culinary uses; virtually every part of the coconut palm has some human uses.
Origins and cultivation
The coconut tree.
he origins of this plant are the subject of controversy, with most authorities claiming it is native to South Asia (particularly the Ganges Delta), while others claim its origin is in northwestern South America. Fossil records from New Zealand indicate that small, coconut-like plants grew there as long as 15 million years ago. Even older fossils have been uncovered in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, (India) and the oldest known so far in Khulna, Bangladesh. Regardless of its origin, the coconut has spread across much of the tropics, probably aided in many cases by sea-faring peoples. The fruit is light and buoyant and presumably spread significant distances by marine currents. Fruits collected from the sea as far north as Norway have been found to be viable (and subsequently germinated under the right conditions). In the Hawaiian Islands, the coconut is regarded as a Polynesian introduction, first brought to the islands by early Polynesian voyagers from their homelands in the South Pacific. They are now ubiquitous to most of the planet between 26ºN and 26ºS. The coconut palm thrives on sandy soils and is highly tolerant of salinity. It prefers areas with abundant sunlight and regular rainfall (1,500 to 2,500 mm annually), which makes colonizing shorelines of the tropics relatively straightforward.[1] Coconuts also need high humidity (70–80%+) for optimum growth, which is why they are rarely seen in areas with low humidity, like the Mediterranean, even where temperatures are high enough (regularly above 24°C). They are very hard to establish in dry climates and cannot grow there without frequent irrigation; in drought conditions, the new leaves do not open well, and older leaves may become desiccated; fruit also tends to be shed.[1] They may grow but not fruit properly in areas where there is not sufficient warmth, like Bermuda.
Coconut palms require warm conditions for successful growth, and are intolerant of cold weather. Optimum growth is with a mean annual temperature of 27°C(80.6°F), and growth is reduced below 21°C(69.8°F). Some seasonal variation is tolerated, with good growth where mean summer temperatures are between 28–37 °C(82.4-98.6 °F), and survival as long as winter temperatures are above 4–12 °C(39.2-53.6 °F); they will survive brief drops to 0 °C(32°F). Severe frost is usually fatal, although they have been known to recover from temperatures of -4 °C(24.8°F).[1]
The flowers of the coconut palm are polygamomonoecious, with both male and female flowers in the same inflorescence. Flowering occurs continuously, with female flowers producing seeds. Coconut palms are believed to be largely cross-pollinated, although some dwarf varieties are self-pollinating.
Pests and diseases
Main article: List of coconut palm diseases
Coconuts affected by eriophyid mites, at Taliparamba, Kannur, Kerala, India.
Coconuts are susceptible to the phytoplasma disease lethal yellowing. One recently selected cultivar, 'Maypan', has been bred for resistance to this disease. The fruit may also be damaged by eriophyid mites. The coconut is also used as a food plant by the larvae of many Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including the following Batrachedra spp: B. arenosella, B. atriloqua (feeds exclusively on Cocos nucifera), B. mathesoni (feeds exclusively on Cocos nucifera), and B. nuciferae.
Brontispa longissima (the "Coconut leaf beetle") feeds on young leaves and damages seedlings and mature coconut palms. On September 27, 2007, Philippines' Metro Manila and 26 provinces were quarantined due to having been infested with this pest (to save the $800-million Philippine coconut industry).[2]
Growing in the United States
The only two states in the U.S. where coconut palms can be grown and reproduced outdoors without irrigation are Hawaii and Florida. Coconut palms will grow from Bradenton southwards on Florida's west coast and Melbourne southwards on Florida's east coast. The occasional coconut palm is seen north of these areas in favoured microclimates in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area and around Cape Canaveral. They may likewise be grown in favoured microclimates in the Rio Grande Valley area of Deep South Texas near Brownsville and on Galveston Island. They may reach fruiting maturity, but are damaged or killed by the occasional winter freezes in these areas. While coconut palms flourish in south Florida, unusually bitter cold snaps can kill or injure coconut palms there as well. Only the Florida Keys and the coastlines provide safe havens from the cold as far as growing coconut palms on the U.S. mainland.
The farthest north in the United States a coconut palm has been known to grow outdoors is in Newport Beach, California along the Pacific Coast Highway. In order for coconut palms to survive in Southern California they need sandy soil and minimal water in the winter to prevent root rot, and would benefit from root heating coils.
Production
Indonesia is the world leader in coconut production followed closely by the exponentially increasing product of the Philippines. Then, in a distant third India.
The fruit
Coconut, meat, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 350 kcal 1480 kJ
Carbohydrates
15.23 g
- Sugars 6.23 g
- Dietary fibre 9.0 g
Fat
33.49 g
- saturated 29.70 g
- monounsaturated 1.43 g
- polyunsaturated 0.37 g
Protein
3.3 g
Thiamin (Vit. B1) 0.066 mg
5%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.02 mg
1%
Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.54 mg
4%
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.300 mg
6%
Vitamin B6 0.054 mg
4%
Folate (Vit. B9) 26 µg
7%
Vitamin C 3.3 mg
6%
Calcium 14 mg
1%
Iron 2.43 mg
19%
Magnesium 32 mg
9%
Phosphorus 113 mg
16%
Potassium 356 mg
8%
Zinc 1.1 mg
11%
Percentages are relative to US
recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient database
Botanically, a coconut is a simple dry nut known as a fibrous drupe. The husk, or mesocarp, is composed of fibres called coir and there is an inner stone, or endocarp. The endocarp is the hardest part. This hard endocarp, the outside of the coconut as sold in the shops of non-tropical countries, has three germination pores that are clearly visible on the outside surface once the husk is removed. It is through one of these that the radicle emerges when the embryo germinates. Adhering to the inside wall of the endocarp is the testa, with a thick albuminous endosperm (the coconut "meat"), the white and fleshy edible part of the seed.
Although coconut meat contains less fat than other dry nuts such as peanuts and almonds, it is noted for its high amount of saturated fat.[3] Approximately 90% of the fat found in coconut meat is saturated, a proportion exceeding that of foods such as lard, butter, and tallow. However, there has been some debate as to whether or not the saturated fat in coconuts is healthier than the saturated fat found in other foods (see coconut oil for more information). Coconut meat also contains less sugar and more protein than popular fruits such as bananas, apples and oranges, and it is relatively high in minerals such as iron, phosphorus and zinc.
The endosperm surrounds a hollow interior space, filled with air and often a liquid referred to as coconut water, not to be confused with coconut milk. Coconut milk, called "santan" in Malay, is made by grating the endosperm and mixing it with (warm) water. The resulting thick, white liquid is used in much Asian cooking, for example, in curries. Coconut water from the unripe coconut, however, can be drunk fresh. Young coconuts used for coconut water are called tender coconuts. The water of a tender coconut is liquid endosperm. It is sweet (mild) with aerated feel when cut fresh. Depending on the size a tender coconut could contain the liquid in the range of 300 to 1,000 ml. It is known in Tamil/Malayalam/Kannada as "elaneer".
When viewed on end, the endocarp and germination pores give the fruit the appearance of a coco (also Côca), a Portuguese word for a scary witch from Portuguese folklore, that used to be represented as a carved vegetable lantern, hence the name of the fruit.[4] The specific name nucifera is Latin for nut-bearing.
When the coconut is still green, the endosperm inside is thin and tender, often eaten as a snack. But the main reason to pick the nut at this stage is to drink its water; a big nut contains up to one liter.
A mature coconut's interior
The meat in a young coconut is softer and more like gelatin than a mature coconut, so much so, that it is sometimes known as coconut jelly. When the nut has ripened and the outer husk has turned brown, a few months later, it will fall from the palm of its own accord. At that time the endosperm has thickened and hardened, while the coconut water has become somewhat bitter.
Coconuts sundried in Kozhikode, Kerala for making copra, which is used for making coconut oil
When the nut is still green the husk is very hard, but green nuts only fall if they have been attacked by moulds, etc. By the time the nut naturally falls, the husk has become brown, the coir has become drier and softer, and the nut is less likely to cause damage when it drops. Still, there have been instances of coconuts falling from palms and injuring people, and claims of some fatalities. This was the subject of a paper published in 1984 that won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2001. Falling coconut deaths are often used as a comparison to shark attacks; the claim is often made that a person is more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than by a shark. However, there is no evidence of people being killed in this manner.[5] However William Wyatt Gill, an early LMS missionary on Mangaia recorded a story in which Kaiara, the concubine of King Tetui, was killed by a falling green nut. The offending palm was immediately cut down. This was around 1777, the time of Captain Cook's visit.
In some parts of the world, trained pig-tailed macaques are used to harvest coconuts. Training schools for pig-tailed macaques still exist both in southern Thailand and in the Malaysian state of Kelantan.[6] Competitions are held each year to find the fastest harvester.
The shell
Coconut shell compound
(dry basis)
Compound
Percent
Cellulose
33.61
Lignin
36.51
Pentosans
29.27
Ash
0.61
Source: Jasper Guy Woodroof (1979). "Coconuts: Production, Processing, Products". 2nd ed. AVI Publishing Co. Inc.
Coconut shell ash compound
Compound
Percent
K2O
45.01
Na2O
15.42
CaO
6.26
MgO
1.32
Fe2O3 + Al2O3
1.39
P2O5
4.64
SO3
5.75
SiO2
4.64
Source: Jasper Guy Woodroof (1979). "Coconuts: Production, Processing, Products". 2nd ed. AVI Publishing Co. Inc.
Uses
Nearly all parts of the coconut palm are useful, and the palms have a comparatively high yield, up to 75 fruits per year; it therefore has significant economic value. The name for the coconut palm in Sanskrit is kalpa vriksha, which translates as "the tree which provides all the necessities of life". In Malay, the coconut is known as pokok seribu guna, "the tree of a thousand uses". In the Philippines, the coconut is commonly given the title "Tree of Life".[7] It its theorised that if you were to become stranded on a desert island populated by palm trees, you could survive purely on the tree and coconut alone, as the coconut provides all of the required natural properties for survival.
A relatively young coconut which has been served in a hawker centre in Singapore with a straw with which to drink its coconut water.
Uses of the various parts of the palm include:
Culinary
The white, fleshy part of the seed is edible and used fresh or dried in cooking.
Sport fruits are also harvested, primarily in the Philippines, where they are known as macapuno. They are sold in jars as "gelatinous mutant coconut" cut into balls or strands.
The cavity is filled with coconut water which contains sugar, fibre, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Coconut water provides an isotonic electrolyte balance, and is a highly nutritious food source. It is used as a refreshing drink throughout the humid tropics and is also used in isotonic sports drinks. It can also be used to make the gelatinous dessert nata de coco. Mature fruits have significantly less liquid than young immature coconuts; barring spoilage, coconut water is sterile until opened.
Coconut milk is made by processing grated coconut with hot water or milk, which extracts the oil and aromatic compounds. It should not be confused with the coconut water discussed above, and has a fat content of approximately 17%. When refrigerated and left to set, coconut cream will rise to the top and separate out the milk.The milk is used to produce virgin coconut oil by controlled heating and removing the oil fraction. Virgin coconut oil is found superior to the oil extracted from copra for cosmetic purposes.
The leftover fibre from coconut milk production is used as livestock feed.
The smell of coconuts comes from the 6-pentyloxan-2-one molecule, known as delta-decalactone in the food and fragrance industry.[8]
The sap derived from incising the flower clusters of the coconut is fermented to produce palm wine, also known as "toddy" or, in the Philippines, tuba. The sap can also be reduced by boiling to create a sweet syrup or candy.
Apical buds of adult plants are edible and are known as "palm-cabbage" or heart-of-palm. It is considered a rare delicacy, as the act of harvesting the bud kills the palm. Hearts of palm are eaten in salads, sometimes called "millionaire's salad".
Ruku Raa is an extract from the young bud, a very rare type of nectar collected and used as morning break drink in the islands of Maldives reputed for its energetic power keeping the "raamen" (nectar collector) healthy and fit even over 80 and 90 years old. And by-products are sweet honey-like syrup and creamy sugar for desserts.
Newly germinated coconuts contain an edible fluff of marshmallow-like consistency called coconut sprout, produced as the endosperm nourishes the developing embryo.
In the Philippines, rice is wrapped in coco leaves for cooking and subsequent storage - these packets are called puso.
Non-culinary
Coconut water can be used as an intravenous fluid.[9]
Coir (the fibre from the husk of the coconut) is used in ropes, mats, brushes, caulking boats and as stuffing fibre; it is also used extensively in horticulture for making potting compost.
Coconut oil can be rapidly processed and extracted as a fully organic product from fresh coconut flesh[10], and used in many ways including as a medicine and in cosmetics, or as a direct replacement for diesel fuel.
Copra is the dried meat of the seed and, after further processing, is a source of low grade coconut oil.
The leaves provide materials for baskets and roofing thatch.
Palmwood comes from the trunk and is increasingly being used as an ecologically-sound substitute for endangered hardwoods. It has several applications, particularly in furniture and specialized construction (notably in Manila's Coconut Palace).
Hawaiians hollowed the trunk to form drums, containers, or even small canoes.
The husk and shells can be used for fuel and are a good source of charcoal.
Dried half coconut shells with husks are used to buff floors. In the Philippines, it is known as "bunot".
In the Philippines, dried half shells are used as a music instrument in a folk dance called maglalatik, a traditional dance about the conflicts for coconut meat within the Spanish era
Shirt buttons can be carved out of dried coconut shell. Coconut buttons are often used for Hawaiian Aloha shirts.
The stiff leaflet midribs can be used to make cooking skewers, kindling arrows, or are bound into bundles, brooms and brushes.
The roots are used as a dye, a mouthwash, and a medicine for dysentery. A frayed-out piece of root can also be used as a toothbrush.
Half coconut shells are used in theatre, banged together to create the sound effect of a horse's hoofbeats. They were used in this way in the Monty Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The leaves can be woven to create effective roofing materials, or reed mats.
Half coconut shells may be deployed as an improvised bra, especially for comedic effect or theatrical purposes. They were used in this way in the 1970s UK sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum for example.
Drained coconuts can be filled with gun powder and used as Improvised explosive devices.
In fairgrounds, a "coconut shy" is a popular target practice game, and coconuts are commonly given as prizes.
A coconut can be hollowed out and used as a home for a rodent or small bird. Halved, drained coconuts can also be hung up as bird feeders, and after the flesh has gone, can be filled with fat in winter to attract tits.
Fresh inner coconut husk can be rubbed on the lens of snorkelling goggles to prevent fogging during use.
Dried coconut leaves can be burned to ash, which can be harvested for lime.
Coconuts can be used as ammunition for homemade catapults.
Dried half coconut shells are used as the bodies of musical instruments, including the Chinese yehu and banhu, and the Vietnamese dàn gáo.
Coconut is also commonly used as a herbal remedy in Pakistan to treat bites from rats.
The "branches" (leaf petioles) are strong and flexible enough to make a switch. The use of coconut branches in corporal punishment was revived in the Gilbertese community on Choiseul in the Solomon Islands in 2005.[11]
In World War II, coastwatcher scout Biuki Gasa was the first of two from the Solomon Islands to reach the shipwrecked, wounded, and exhausted crew of Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 commanded by future U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Gasa suggested, for lack of paper, delivering by dugout canoe a message inscribed on a husked coconut shell. This coconut was later kept on the president's desk, and is now in the John F. Kennedy Library.
Coconut trunks are used for building small bridges, preferred for their straightness, strength and salt resistance
Gelugu (coconut wood) in Klaten, Java
Coconut charcoal
Coconut cream
Coconut milk
Coconut oil
Coconut water
Maypan coconut palm
Coconut candy
References
^ a b c Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry: Cocos nucifera (pdf file)
^ Inquirer.net, Beetles infest coconuts in Manila, 26 provinces
^ Nutrition Facts and Information for Vegetable oil, coconut
^ Figueiredo, Cândido. Pequeno Dicionário da Lingua Portuguesa. Livraria Bertrand. Lisboa 1940. (in Portuguese)
^ Are 150 people killed each year by falling coconuts? The Straight Dope, 19 July 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2006.
^ Training without Reward: Traditional Training of Pig-Tailed Macaques as Coconut Harvesters, Mireille Bertrand, Science 27 January 1967: Vol. 155. no. 3761, pp. 484 - 486
^ Fife, Bruce (2005). Coconut Cures. Piccadilly Books, Ltd., 17. ISBN 0941599604. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.
^ Data sheet about delta-decalactone and its properties: http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/data/rw1013411.html
^ Campbell-Falck D, Thomas T, Falck TM, Tutuo N, Clem K (2000). "The intravenous use of coconut water". Am J Emerg Med 18 (1): 108–11. PMID 10674546.
^ Direct Micro Expelling of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Kokonut Pacific Pty Ltd, accessed 4 January 2008
^ Corporal punishment on the Solomon Islands
Cocos nucifera
Coconut Varieties Endemic to Sri Lanka
Coconut Research Center
Coconut Time Line
Plant Cultures: botany, history and uses of the coconut
Purdue University crop pages: Cocos nucifera
Coconut
P. Batugal, V. R. Rao and J. Oliver (2005). Coconut Genetic Resources. COGENT (International Coconut Genetic Resources Network) - IPGRI (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute).
Descriptors for Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.)
Nutritional values for Coconut products
Coconut
http://www.augmentinforce.50webs.com/COCONUT%201.htm#COCONUT 1
(mg of Substance per 100 grams)
Amino Acids: 3,300
Carbohydrates: 15,000
Lipids: 33,000 Saturated: 30,360 Lauric Acid 16,000
Capric Acid 6,500
Unsaturated: Linoleic Acid 330
Monounsaturated: Oleic Acid 1,980
Minerals: Calcium 14 Iron 2.4
Phosphorus 113 Zinc 1.1
Manganese 1.5 Magnesium 32
Copper 0.4 Potassium 440
Vitamins: Vitamin B1 0.1 Vitamin B2 0.02
Vitamin B3 0.5 Vitamin B5 0.3
Vitamin C 3.3
Health Benefits of Coconut Milk
The majority of the health benefits associated with Coconut Milk are attributable to its high content of Lauric Acid and Capric Acid.
Immune System
Coconut Milk inhibits/kills many types of Detrimental Bacteria, including:
- Chlamydia trachomatis
- Helicobacter pylori references
- Hemophilus influenzae
- Listeria monocytogenes
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Staphylococcus aureus
- Staphylococcus epidermidis
- Streptococcus agalactiae
Coconut Milk inhibits/kills some types of Detrimental Fungi, including:
- Aspergillus niger
- Candida albicans
Coconut Milk deactivates (lipid-coated) Viruses, including:
- The HIV virus (which causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
- Herpes Simplex Viruses:
- Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
- Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2
- Measles Virus
Coconut Milk Contain these Substances
(mg of Substance per 100 grams)
Lipids: 24,000 Lauric Acid 12,000 Capric Acid 6,500
Health Benefits of Coconut Oil
Most of the Health Benefits of Coconut Oil are attributable to its high content of Medium-Chain Saturated Fatty Acids such as Capric Acid, Caprylic Acid and Lauric Acid.
Unlike most other dietary Oils, Coconut Oil cannot contain Trans-Fatty Acids (due to its very low content of Unsaturated Fatty Acids).
Immune System
Coconut Oil inhibits/kills some types of Detrimental Bacteria (due to its high content of Medium-Chain Saturated Fatty Acids), including:
- Helicobacter pylori
Coconut Oil inhibits/kills some types of Detrimental Fungi (due to its high content of Medium-Chain Saturated Fatty Acids), including:
- Aspergillus niger
Coconut Oil may delay the shrinkage (atrophy) of the Thymus that occurs with the progression of the Aging Process and may restore the function of the Thymus. research
Coconut Oil inactivates some types of Viruses (due to the high Lauric Acid content of Coconut Oil) including: references
- HIV virus (which causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). references
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
Metabolism
Coconut Oil increases the body’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). references
Coconut Oil lowers elevated total serum Cholesterol levels (it is speculated that this occurs from Coconut Oil stimulating the conversion of Cholesterol to Pregnenolone).
Coconut Oil facilitates weight loss in persons afflicted with Obesity. references
Skin
Coconut Oil (applied topically) alleviates Dry Skin. research
Coconut Oil Enhances the Function of these Substances
Hormones
Coconut Oil is speculated to facilitate the conversion of Cholesterol to Pregnenolone.
Coconut Oil Contains these Substances
(mg of Substance per 100 grams)
Fatty Acids: Saturated - Medium Chain: 62,000 Capric Acid 7,000
Caprylic Acid 7,000
Lauric Acid 48,000
Saturated - Long Chain: 23,000 Myristic Acid 16,000
Palmitic Acid 7,000
Monounsaturated: 6,600 Oleic Acid 6,600
Polyunsaturated: 1,800 Linoleic Acid 1,800
Vitamins: Vitamin E: 1.1 Alpha Tocopherol 0.5
Delta Tocopherol 0.6
Tocotrienols: 3.1 Alpha Tocotrienol 0.5
Delta Tocotrienol 0.6
Gamma Tocotrienol 2.0
Storage
Coconut Oil is more resistant to rancidity (i.e. Lipid Peroxidation) than most other edible oils and hence has a much longer shelf life compared to other dietary Oils. Coconut oil that has been kept at room temperature for a year has been tested for rancidity, and showed no evidence of it.
Myths Dispelled
Cardiovascular System
Unlike many other Dietary Oils, Coconut Oil does NOT contribute to the development of Cardiovascular Diseases.
Coconut
Preparing Coconut Milk from Fresh Coconuts
Pierce the eyes of a fresh coconut, drain the liquid inside and place the coconut on a rack and bake in a 325F pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes. Remove the coconut from the oven, let it cool a bit and crack it with a hammer so that the shell breaks into several pieces. Remove all the coconut meat from the shell, peel off the brown skin and cut the meat into very small cubes. Place the meat in a blender, add hot water to just cover all of the meat and blend until finely grated. Place a sieve covered with cheese cloth over a bowl and pour the coconut meat and water into the sieve squeezing handfuls of the coconut meat to extract as much liquid as possible into the bowl. Discard the squeezed coconut meat and refrigerate the coconut milk that has been extracted into the bowl. Refrigerate the milk and use within 1 or 2 days. B: Preparing Coconut Milk from Desiccated coconut.
Empty an 8 oz package of unsweetened desiccated coconut into a blender and add 1 cup boiling water. Blend for about 30 seconds and allow the mixture to cool a bit. Place a sieve over a bowl lined with cheese cloth. Ladle the mixture into the cheese cloth, fold the edges over the coconut meat and twist the ends to extract as much milk as you can into the bowl. Discard the squeezed coconut meat and refrigerate the coconut milk that has been extracted into the bowl. Refrigerate the milk and use within 1 or 2 days."
Coconuts: In Support of Good Health,
"Coconuts: In Support of Good Health in the 21st Century", presented by Dr Mary Enig at the Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) meeting held in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia in 1999. Note that it does make several references to animal experiments, and that NEXUS does not condone animal experimentation. --Editor)
ABSTRACT
Coconuts play a unique role in the diets of mankind because they are the source of important physiologically functional components. These physiologically functional components are found in the fat part of whole coconut, in the fat part of desiccated coconut and in the extracted coconut oil.
Lauric acid, the major fatty acid from the fat of the coconut, has long been recognised for the unique properties that it lends to nonfood uses in the soaps and cosmetics industry. More recently, lauric acid has been recognised for its unique properties in food use, which are related to its antiviral, antibacterial and antiprotozoal functions. Now, capric acid, another of coconut's fatty acids, has been added to the list of coconut's antimicrobial components. These fatty acids are found in the largest amounts only in traditional lauric fats, especially from coconut. Also, recently published research has shown that natural coconut fat in the diet leads to a normalisation of body lipids, protects against alcohol damage to the liver and improves the immune system's anti-inflammatory response.
Clearly, there has been increasing recognition of the health-supporting functions of the fatty acids found in coconut. Recent reports from the US Food and Drug Administration about required labelling of the trans fatty acids will put coconut oil in a more competitive position and may help its return to use by the baking and snack-food industry, where it has continued to be recognised for its functionality. Now it can be recognised for another kind of functionality: the improvement of the health of mankind. . These benefits stemmed from coconut's use as a food with major functional properties for antimicrobial and anti-cancer effects.
II. FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF LAURIC FATS AS ANTIMICROBIALS
Earlier this year, at a special conference entitled "Functional Foods For Health Promotion: Physiologic Considerations" (Experimental Biology '99, Renaissance Washington Hotel, Washington, DC, April 17, 1999), which was sponsored by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) North America, Technical Committee on Food Components for Health Promotion, it was defined that "a functional food provides a health benefit over and beyond the basic nutrients".
This is exactly what coconut and its edible products such as desiccated coconut and coconut oil do. As a functional food, coconut has fatty acids that provide both energy (nutrients) and raw material for antimicrobial fatty acids and monoglycerides (functional components) when it is eaten. Desiccated coconut is about 69% coconut fat, as is creamed coconut. Full coconut milk is approximately 24% fat.Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid. Lauric acid is a medium-chain fatty acid which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body. Monolaurin is the antiviral, antibacterial and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human (and animal) to destroy lipid-coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria including Listeria monocytogenes and Helicobacter pylori, and protozoa such as Giardia lamblia. Some studies have also shown some antimicrobial effects of the free lauric acid. Also, approximately 6 - 7% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are capric acid. Capric acid is another medium-chain fatty acid which has a similar beneficial function when it is formed into monocaprin in the human or animal body. Monocaprin has also been shown to have antiviral effects against HIV and is being tested for antiviral effects against herpes simplex and for antibacterial effects against Chlamydia and other sexually transmitted bacteria (Reuters, London, June 29, 1999). The antiviral, antibacterial and antiprotozoal properties of lauric acid and monolaurin have been recognised by a small number of researchers for nearly four decades. This knowledge has resulted in more than 20 research papers and several US patents, and last year it resulted in a comprehensive book chapter which reviewed the important aspects of lauric oils as antimicrobial agents (Enig, 1998). In the past, the larger group of clinicians and food and nutrition scientists has been unaware of the potential benefits of consuming foods containing coconut and coconut oil, but this is now starting to change. Kabara (1978) and others have reported that certain fatty acids (FAs) (e.g., medium-chain saturates) and their derivatives (e.g., monoglycerides, MGs) can have adverse effects on various micro-organisms. Those micro-organisms that are inactivated include bacteria, yeast, fungi and enveloped viruses. Additionally, it is reported that the antimicrobial effects of the FAs and MGs are additive, and total concentration is critical for inactivating viruses (Isaacs and Thormar, 1990). The properties that determine the anti-infective action of lipids are related to their structure, e.g., monoglycerides, free fatty acids. The monoglycerides are active; diglycerides and triglycerides are inactive. Of the saturated fatty acids, lauric acid has greater antiviral activity than caprylic acid (C-8), capric acid (C-10) or myristic acid (C-14). In general, it is reported that the fatty acids and monoglycerides produce their killing/inactivating effect by lysing the plasma membrane lipid bilayer. The antiviral action attributed to monolaurin is that of solubilising the lipids and phospholipids in the envelope of the virus, causing the disintegration of the virus envelope. However, there is evidence from recent studies that one antimicrobial effect in bacteria is related to monolaurin's interference with signal transduction (Projan et al., 1994), and another antimicrobial effect in viruses is due to lauric acid's interference with virus assembly and viral maturation (Hornung et al., 1994). Recognition of the antiviral aspects of the antimicrobial activity of the monoglyceride of lauric acid (monolaurin) has been reported since 1966. Some of the early work by Hierholzer and Kabara (1982), which showed virucidal effects of monolaurin on enveloped RNA and DNA viruses, was done in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control of the US Public Health Service. These studies were done with selected virus prototypes or recognised representative strains of enveloped human viruses. The envelope of these viruses is a lipid membrane, and the presence of a lipid membrane on viruses makes them especially vulnerable to lauric acid and its derivative, monolaurin. The medium-chain saturated fatty acids and their derivatives act by disrupting the lipid membranes of the viruses (Isaacs and Thormar, 1991; Isaacs et al., 1992). Research has shown that enveloped viruses are inactivated in both human and bovine milk by added fatty acids and monoglycerides (Isaacs et al., 1991) and also by endogenous fatty acids and monoglycerides of the appropriate length (Isaacs et al., 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992; Thormar et al., 1987). Some of the viruses inactivated by these lipids, in addition to HIV, are the measles virus, herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), visna virus and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Many of the pathogenic organisms reported to be inactivated by these antimicrobial lipids are those known to be responsible for opportunistic infections in HIV-positive individuals. For example, concurrent infection with cytomegalovirus is recognised as a serious complication for HIV-positive individuals (Macallan et al., 1993). Thus, it would appear to be important to investigate the practical aspects and the potential benefits of an adjunct nutritional support regimen for HIV-infected individuals, which will utilise those dietary fats that are sources of known antiviral, antimicrobial and antiprotozoal monoglycerides and fatty acids such as monolaurin and its precursor, lauric acid.Until now, no one in the mainstream nutrition community seems to have recognised the added potential of antimicrobial lipids in the treatment of HIV-infected or AIDS patients. These antimicrobial fatty acids and their derivatives are essentially nontoxic to man; they are produced in vivo by humans when they ingest those commonly available foods that contain adequate levels of medium-chain fatty acids such as lauric acid. According to the published research, lauric acid is one of the best "inactivating" fatty acids, and its monoglyceride is even more effective than the fatty acid alone (Kabara, 1978; Sands et al., 1978; Fletcher et al., 1985; Kabara, 1985). The lipid-coated (enveloped) viruses are dependent on host lipids for their lipid constituents. The variability of fatty acids in the foods of individuals, as well as the variability from de novo synthesis, accounts for the variability of fatty acids in the virus envelope and also explains the variability of glycoprotein expression - a variability that makes vaccine development more difficult. Monolaurin does not appear to have an adverse effect on desirable gut bacteria but, rather, only on potentially pathogenic micro-organisms. For example, Isaacs et al. (1991) reported no inactivation of the common Escherichia coli or Salmonella enteritidis by monolaurin, but major inactivation of Hemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus epidermidis and group B gram-positive Streptococcus. The potentially pathogenic bacteria inactivated by monolaurin include Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, groups A, F and G streptococci, gram-positive organisms, and some gram-negative organisms if pretreated with a chelator (Boddie and Nickerson, 1992; Kabara, 1978, 1984; Isaacs et al., 1990, 1992, 1994; Isaacs and Schneidman, 1991; Isaacs and Thormar, 1986, 1990, 1991; Thormar et al., 1987; Wang and Johnson, 1992).Decreased growth of Staphylococcus aureus and decreased production of toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 was shown with 150 mg monolaurin per litre (Holland et al., 1994). Monolaurin was shown to be 5,000 times more inhibitory against Listeria monocytogenes than is ethanol (Oh and Marshall, 1993). Helicobacter pylori was rapidly inactivated by medium-chain monoglycerides and lauric acid, and there appeared to be very little development of resistance of the organism to the bactericidal effects of these natural antimicrobials (Petschow et al., 1996). A number of fungi, yeast and protozoa have been found to be inactivated or killed by lauric acid or monolaurin. The fungi include several species of ringworm (Isaacs et al., 1991). The yeast reported is Candida albicans (Isaacs et al., 1991). The protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia is killed by free fatty acids and monoglycerides from hydrolysed human milk (Hernell et al., 1986; Reiner et al., 1986; Crouch et al., 1991; Isaacs et al., 1991). Numerous other protozoa were studied with similar findings, but these have not yet been published (Jon J. Kabara, private communication, 1997). Research continues in measuring the effects of the monoglyceride derivative of capric acid, monocaprin, as well as the effects of lauric acid. Chlamydia trachomatis is inactivated by lauric acid, capric acid and monocaprin (Bergsson et al., 1998). Hydrogels containing monocaprin are potent in vitro inactivators of sexually transmitted viruses such as HSV-2 and HIV-1 and bacteria such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Thormar, 1999).
III. ORIGINS OF THE ANTI - SATURATED FAT, ANTI - TROPICAL OILS AGENDA
The coconut industry has suffered more than three decades of abusive rhetoric from the consumer activist group Centers for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), from the American Soybean Association (ASA) and other members of the edible oil industry, and from those in the medical and scientific community who learned their misinformation from groups like CSPI and ASA. I would like to review briefly the origins of the anti - saturated fat, anti - tropical oil campaigns and hopefully give you some useful insight into the issues. When and how did the anti - saturated fat story begin? It really began in part in the late 1950s, when a researcher in Minnesota announced that the heart disease epidemic was being caused by hydrogenated vegetable fats. The edible oil industry's response at that time was to claim it was only the saturated fat in the hydrogenated oils that was causing the problem. The industry then announced that it would be changing to partially hydrogenated fats and that this would solve the problem. In actual fact, there was no change because the oils were already being partially hydrogenated and the levels of saturated fatty acids remained similar, as did the levels of the trans fatty acids. The only thing that really changed was the term for "hydrogenation" or "hardening" listed on the food label. During this same period, a researcher in Philadelphia reported that consuming polyunsaturated fatty acids lowered serum cholesterol. This researcher neglected, however, to include the information that the lowering was due to the cholesterol going into the tissues such as the liver and the arteries. As a result of this research report and the acceptance of this new agenda by the domestic edible oils industry, there was a gradual increase in the emphasis on replacing "saturated fats" in the diet and on consuming larger amounts of the "polyunsaturated fats". As many of you probably know, this strong emphasis on consuming polyunsaturates has backfired in many ways. The current adjustments, being recommended in the US by groups such as the National Academy of Sciences, replace the saturates with mono-unsaturates instead of with polyunsaturates and replace polyunsaturates with mono-unsaturates. Early promoters of the anti - saturated fat ideas included companies such as Corn Products Company (CPC International), through a book written by Jeremiah Stamler in 1963, with the professional edition published in 1966 by CPC. This book took some of the earliest pejorative stabs at the tropical oils. In 1963, the only tropical fat or oil singled out as high in saturated fats was coconut oil. Palm oil had not entered the US food supply to any extent, had not become a commercial threat to the domestic oils and was not recognised in any of the early texts. The editorial staff of Consumer Reports noted that "...in 1962...one writer observed, the average American now fears fat [saturated fat, that is] 'as he once feared witches"'. In 1965, a representative of Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals told the American Heart Association to change its diet/heart statement to remove any reference to the trans fatty acids. This altered official document encouraged the consumption of partially hydrogenated fats. In the 1970s, this same Procter & Gamble employee served as nutrition chairman in two controlling positions for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Lipid Research Clinic (LRC) trials and as director of one of the LRC centres. These LRC trials were the basis for the 1984 NIH Cholesterol Consensus Conference, which in turn spawned the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP). This program encourages consumption of margarine and partially hydrogenated fats, while admitting that trans should not be consumed in excess. The official NCEP document states that "coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil...should be avoided". In 1966, the US Department of Agriculture documents on fats and oils talked about how unstable the unsaturated fats and oils were. There was no criticism of the saturated fats. That criticism of saturated fats was to come later to this agency when it came under the influence of the domestic edible fats and oils industry and when it developed the US Dietary Guidelines. These Dietary Guidelines became very anti - saturated fat and remain so to this day. Nevertheless, as we will learn later in my talk, there started some reversal of the anti - saturated fat stance in the works of this agency in 1998. In the early 1970s, although a number of researchers were voicing concerns about the trans fats, the edible oil industry and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were engaging in a revolving-door exchange that would promote the increasing consumption of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, condemn the saturated fats and hide the trans issue. As an example of this "oily" exchange, in 1971 the FDA's general counsel became president of the edible oil trade association, the Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils (ISEO), and he in turn was replaced at the FDA by a food lawyer who had represented the edible oil industry. From that point on, the truth about any real effects of the dietary fats had to play catch-up. The American edible oil industry sponsored "information" to educate the public, and the natural dairy and animal fats industries were inept at countering any of that misinformation. Not being domestically grown in the US, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil were not around to defend themselves at that time. The government agencies responsible for disseminating information ignored those protesting "lone voices", and by the mid-1980s American food manufacturers and consumers had made major changes in their fats and oils usage - away from the safe, saturated fats and headlong into the problematic trans fats. Enig and Fallon (1998 - 99) have reviewed the above history in "The Oiling of America", published in Nexus Magazine [see 6/01 - 2]. This article can be viewed and downloaded from the NEXUS website at www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/oilingamerica.1.html and www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/oilingamerica.2.html.
IV. THE DAMAGING ROLE OF THE US CONSUMER ACTIVIST GROUP CSPI
Some of the food oil industry members - especially those connected with the American Soybean Association and some of the consumer activists (particularly the Centers for Science in the Public Interest and also the American Heart Savers Association) further eroded the status of natural fats when they sponsored the major anti - saturated fat, anti - tropical oils campaign in the late 1980s. Actually, an active anti - saturated fat bias started as far back as 1972 at the CSPI. But beginning in 1984, this very vocal consumer activist group started its anti - saturated fat campaign in earnest. In particular at this time, the campaign was against the "saturated" frying fats, especially those being used by fast-food restaurants. Most of these so-called saturated frying fats were tallow-based, but also included was palm oil in at least one of the hotel/restaurant chains. Then, in a critical "News Release" in August 1986 - "Deceptive Vegetable Oil Labeling: Saturated Fat Without The Facts" - CSPI referred to "palm, coconut and palm kernel oil" as "rich in artery-clogging saturated fat". CSPI further announced that it had petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to stop allowing labelling of foods as having "100% vegetable shortening" if they contained any of the "tropical oils". CSPI also asked for the mandatory addition of the qualifier, "a saturated fat", when coconut, palm or palm kernel oil was named on the food label. In 1988, CSPI published a booklet called "Saturated Fat Attack". This booklet contains lists of processed foods "surveyed" in Washington, DC, supermarkets. The lists were used for developing information about the saturated fat in the products. Section III is entitled "Those Troublesome Tropical Oils" and it contains statements encouraging pejorative labelling. There were lots of substantive mistakes in the booklet, including errors in the description of the biochemistry of fats and oils and completely erroneous statements about the fat and oil composition of many of the products. At the same time that CSPI was conducting its campaign in 1986, the American Soybean Association began its anti - tropical oils campaign by sending inflammatory letters, etc., to soybean farmers. The ASA took out advertisements to promote a "[tropical] Fat Fighter Kit". The ASA hired a Washington, DC, "nutritionist" to survey supermarkets to detect the presence of tropical oils in foods.
Then, early in 1987, the ASA petitioned the FDA to require labelling of "tropical fats". In mid-1987 the Soybean Digest was continuing an active and increasing anti - tropical oils campaign.
At about the same time, the New York Times (June 3, 1987) published an editorial, "The Truth About Vegetable Oil", in which it called palm, palm kernel and coconut oils "the cheaper, artery-clogging oils from Malaysia and Indonesia" and claimed that US federal dietary guidelines opposed tropical oils, although it is not clear that this was so. The "artery-clogging" terminology was right out of CSPI.
Two years later, in 1989, the ASA held a press conference with the help of the CSPI in Washington, DC, in an attempt to counter a press conference held on March 6 by the palm oil group. The ASA "Media Alert" stated that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Research Council "recommend consumers avoid palm, palm kernel and coconut oils".
Only months before these press conferences, millionaire Phil Sokolof, the head of the National Heart Savers Association (NHSA), purchased the first of a series of anti - saturated fats and anti - tropical fats advertisements in major newspapers. No one has found an overt connection between Sokolof (and his NHSA) and the ASA, but the CSPI bragged about being his adviser.
V. USE OF COCONUT OIL IN THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF HEART DISEASE
The research over four decades concerning coconut oil in the diet and heart disease is quite clear: coconut oil has been shown to be beneficial in combatting/reducing the risk factors in heart disease. This research leads us to ask the question, "Should coconut oil be used both to prevent and treat coronary heart disease?" This is based on several reviews of the scientific literature concerning the feeding of coconut oil to humans. Blackburn et al. (1988) reviewed the published literature of "coconut oil's effect on serum cholesterol and atherogenesis" and concluded that when "fed physiologically with other fats or adequately supplemented with linoleic acid, coconut oil is a neutral fat in terms of atherogenicity". After reviewing this same literature, Kurup and Rajmohan (1995) conducted a study on 64 volunteers and found "no statistically significant alteration in the serum total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol/total cholesterol ratio and LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio of triglycerides from the baseline values". A beneficial effect of adding the coconut kernel to the diet was noted by these researchers. Kaunitz and Dayrit (1992) reviewed some of the epidemiological and experimental data regarding coconut-eating groups and noted that the "available population studies show that dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum cholesterol nor to high coronary heart disease mortality or morbidity". They noted that, in 1989, Mendis et al. reported undesirable lipid changes when young adult Sri Lankan males were changed from their normal diets by the substitution of corn oil for their customary coconut oil. Although the total serum cholesterol decreased 18.7% from 179.6 to 146.0 mg/dL and the LDL cholesterol decreased 23.8% from 131.6 to 100.3 mg/dL, the HDL cholesterol decreased 41.4% from 43.4 to 25.4 mg/dL (putting the HDL values very much below the acceptable lower limit of 35 mg/dL) and the LDL/HDL ratio increased 30% from 3.0 to 3.9. These latter two changes are considered quite undesirable.
Mendis and Kumarasunderam (1990) also compared the effect of coconut oil and soy oil in normolipidemic young males, and again the coconut oil resulted in an increase in the HDL cholesterol, whereas the soy oil reduced this desirable lipoprotein.
As noted above, Kurup and Rajmohan (1995), who studied the addition of coconut oil alone to previously mixed fat diets, had reported no significant difference from baseline.
Previously, Prior et al. (1981) had shown that islanders with high intakes of coconut oil showed "no evidence of the high saturated fat intake having a harmful effect in these populations". When these groups migrated to New Zealand, however, and lowered their intake of coconut oil, their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol increased and their HDL cholesterol decreased. Statements that any saturated fat is a dietary problem is not supported by evidence (Enig, 1993).
Studies that allegedly showed a "hypercholesterolemic" effect of coconut oil feeding usually only showed that coconut oil was not as effective at lowering the serum cholesterol as was the more unsaturated fat to which coconut oil was being compared. This appears to be in part because coconut oil does not "drive" cholesterol into the tissues as do the more polyunsaturated fats. The chemical analysis of the atheroma showed that the fatty acids from the cholesterol esters are 74% unsaturated (41% of the total fatty acids is polyunsaturated) and only 24% are saturated. None of the saturated fatty acids was reported to be lauric acid or myristic acid (Felton et al., 1994).
There is another aspect to the coronary heart disease picture. This is related to the initiation of the atheromas that are reported to be blocking arteries. Recent research shows that there is a causative role for the herpes virus and cytomegalovirus in the initial formation of atherosclerotic plaques and the reclogging of arteries after angioplasty (New York Times, January 29, 1991). What is so interesting is that the herpes virus and cytomegalovirus are both inhibited by the antimicrobial lipid monolaurin, but monolaurin is not formed in the body unless there is a source of lauric acid in the diet. Thus, ironically enough, one could consider the recommendations to avoid coconut and other lauric oils as contributing to the increased incidence of coronary heart disease. Chlamydia pneumoniae, a gram-negative bacterium, is another of the micro-organisms suspected of playing a role in atherosclerosis by provoking an inflammatory process that would result in the oxidation of lipoproteins with induction of cytokines and production of proteolystic enzymes - a typical phenomenon in atherosclerosis (Saikku, 1997). Some of the pathogenic gram-negative bacteria with an appropriate chelator have been reported to be inactivated or killed by lauric acid and monolaurin as well as capric acid and monocaprin (Bergsson et al., 1997; Thormar et al., 1999). However, the micro-organisms which are most frequently identified as probable causative infecting agents are in the herpes virus family and include cytomegalovirus, type 2 herpes simplex (HSV-2) and Coxsackie B4 virus. The evidence for a causative role for cytomegalovirus is the strongest (Ellis, 1997; Visseren et al., 1997; Zhou et al., 1996; Melnick et al., 1996; Epstein et al., 1996; Chen and Yang, 1995), but a role for HSV-2 is also shown (Raza-Ahmad et al., 1995). All members of the herpes virus family are reported to be killed by the fatty acids and monoglycerides from saturated fatty acids ranging from C-6 to C-14 (Isaacs et al., 1991), which include approximately 80% of the fatty acids in coconut oil. In spite of what has been said over the past four or more decades about the culpability of the saturated fatty acids in heart disease, they are ultimately going to be held blameless. More and more research is showing the problem to be related to oxidised products. The naturally saturated fats such as coconut oil are one protection we have against oxidised products.
About the Author:
Dr Mary G. Enig holds an MS and PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Maryland in the USA. She is a consulting nutritionist and biochemist of international renown and an expert in fats/oils analysis and metabolism, food chemistry and composition and nutrition and dietetics.
Dr Enig is Director of the Nutritional Sciences Division of Enig Associates, Inc., President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. She is also Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Science Editor of the Foundation's publication. Dr Enig has many years of experience as a lecturer and has taught graduate-level courses for the Nutritional Sciences Program at the University of Maryland, where she was a Faculty Research Associate in the Lipids Research Group, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland. She also maintains a limited clinical practice for patients needing nutritional assessment and consultation.
Dr Enig has extensive experience consulting and lecturing on nutrition to individuals, medical and allied health groups, the food processing industry and state and federal governments in the US. She also lectures and acts as a consultant to the international health and food processing communities. Since 1995 she has been invited to make presentations at scientific meetings in Europe, India, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Micronesia.
Dr Enig is the author of numerous journal publications, mainly on fats and oils research and nutrient/drug interactions. She also wrote the book Know Your Fats (Bethesda Press, Silver Spring, MD, May 2000). She is a popular media spokesperson and was an early critic speaking out about the use of trans fatty acids and advocating their inclusion in nutritional labelling.
One of Dr Enig's recent research topics dealt with the development of a nutritional protocol for proposed clinical trials of a non-drug treatment for HIV/AIDS patients. Her articles, "The Oiling of America" and "Tragedy and Hype: The Third International Soy Symposium", written with nutritionist/ researcher Sally Fallon, were published in NEXUS 6/01 - 2 and 7/03 respectively.
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· Prior IA, Davidson F, Salmond CE, Czochanska Z. Cholesterol, coconuts, and diet on Polynesian atolls: a natural experiment: the Pukapuka and Tokelau Island studies. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1981;34:1552-1561.
· Projan SJ, Brown-Skrobot S, Schlievert PM, Vandenesch F, Novick RP. Glycerol monolaurate inhibits the production of beta-lactamase, toxic shock toxin-1, and other staphylococcal exoproteins by interfering with signal transduction. Journal of Bacteriology 1994;176:4204-4209.
· Ravnskov U. Quotation bias in reviews of the diet-heart idea. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 1995;48:713-719.
· Raza-Ahmad A, Klassen GA, Murphy DA, Sullivan JA, Kinley CE, Landymore RW, Wood JR. Evidence of type-2 herpes simplex infection in human coronary arteries at the time of coronary artery bypass surgery. Canadian Journal of Cardiology 1995;11:1025-1029.
· Reddy BS, Maeura Y. Tumour promotion of dietary fat in azoxymethane-induced colon carcinogenesis in female F 344 rats. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1984;72:745-750.
· Reiner DS, Wang CS, Gillin FD. Human milk kills Giardia lamblia by generating toxic lipolytic products. Journal of Infectious Diseases 1986;154:825-832.
· Saikku P. Chlamydia pneumoniae and atherosclerosis - an update. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases Supplement 1997;104:53-56.
· Sircar S, Kansra U. Choice of cooking oils - myths and realities. Journal of the Indian Medical Association 1998;96:304-307.
· Sands JA, Auperin DD, Landin PD, Reinhardt A, Cadden SP. Antiviral effects of fatty acids and derivatives: lipid-containing bacteriophages as a model system. In The Pharmacological Effect of Lipids (JJ Kabara, ed), American Oil Chemists' Society, Champaign, IL, 1978, pp 75-95.
· Smit MJ, Wolters H, Temmerman AM, Kuipers F, Beynen AC, Vonk RJ. Effects of dietary corn and olive oil versus coconut fat on biliary cholesterol secretion in rats. International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research 1994;64:75-80.
· Smith RL. The Cholesterol Conspiracy. Warren H Green Inc., St Louis, Missouri, 1991.
· Sugano M, Ikeda I. Metabolic interactions between essential and trans-fatty acids. Current Opinions in Lipidology 1996;7:38-42.
· Sundram K, Hayes KC, Siru OH. Dietary palmitic acid results in lower serum cholesterol than does a lauric-myristic acid combination in normolipemic humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1994;59:841-846.
· Tappia PS, Grimble RF. Complex modulation of cytokine induction by endotoxin and tumour necrosis factor from peritoneal macrophages of rats by diets containing fats of different saturated, mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid composition. Clinical Science (Colch) 1994;87:173-178.
· Tholstrup T, Marckmann P, Jespersen J, Sandstrom B. Fat high in stearic acid favorably affects blood lipids and factor VII coagulant activity in comparison with fats high in palmitic acid or high in myristic and lauric acids. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1994;59:371-377.
· Thormar H, Isaacs EC, Brown HR, Barshatzky MR, Pessolano T. Inactivation of enveloped viruses and killing of cells by fatty acids and monoglycerides. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 1987;31:27-31.
· Trautwein EA, Kunath-Rau A, Dietrich J, Drusch S, Erberdobler HF. Effect of dietary fats rich in lauric, myristic, palmitic, oleic or linoleic acid on plasma, hepatic and biliary lipids in cholesterol-fed hampsters. British Journal of Nutrition 1997;77:605-620.
· Visseren FL, Bouter KP, Pon MJ, Hoekstra JB, Erkelens DV, Diepersloot RJ. Patients with diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis; a role for cytomegaloviorus? Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice (Limerick) 1997;36:49-55.
· Wan JM, Grimble RF. Effect of dietary linoleate content on the metabolic response of rats to Escherichia coli endotoxin. Clinical Science (Colch) 1987;72:383-385.
· Wang LL and Johnson EA. Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by fatty acids and monoglycerides. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 1992; 58:624-629.
· Willett W. Editorial: Challenges for public health nutrition in the 1990s. American Journal of Public Health 1990;80:1295-1298.
· Witcher KJ, Novick RP, Schlievert PM. Modulation of immune cell proliferation by glycerol monolaurate. Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology 1996;3:10-13.
· Zhou YF, Buetta E, Yu ZX, Finkel T, Epstein SE. Human cytomegalovirus increases modified low-density lipoprotein uptake and scavenger receptor mRNA expression in vascular smooth muscle cells. Journal of Clinical Investigation 1996;98:2129-2138.
(The following is the text of a talk and paper, "Coconuts: In Support of Good Health in the 21st Century", presented by Dr Mary Enig at the Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) meeting held in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia in 1999. Note that it does make several references to animal experiments, and that NEXUS does not condone animal experimentation. --Editor)
VI. THE LATEST ON THE TRANS FATTY ACIDS
Both the United States and Canada will soon require labelling of the trans fatty acids, which will put coconut oil in a more competitive position than it has been in the past decade. (In 2001, Canada published examples of the labels it plans to use, while the US is still to finalise its labels.)
A fear of the vegetable oil manufacturers has always been that they would have to label trans fatty acids. The producers of trans fatty acids have relied on the anti-saturated fat crusade to protect their markets. However, the latest research on saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids shows the saturated fatty acids coming out ahead in the health race. It has taken a decade, from 1988 to 1998, to see changes in perception. During this period, the trans fatty acids have taken a deserved drubbing. Research reports from Europe have been emerging since the seminal report by Mensink and Katan in 1990 that the trans fatty acids raised the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and lowered the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in serum. This has been confirmed by studies in the US (Judd et al., 1994; Khosla and Hayes, 1996; Clevidence, 1997).
In 1990, the Lipids Research Group at the University of Maryland published a paper (Enig et al., 1990) correcting some of the erroneous data sponsored by the food industry in the 1985 review of the trans fatty acids by the Life Sciences Research Office of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (LSRO-FASEB) (Senti, 1985).
In 1993, a group of researchers at Harvard University, led by Professor Walter Willett, reported a positive relationship between the dietary intake of the trans fatty acids and coronary heart disease in a greater than 80,000 cohort of nurses who had been followed by the School of Public Health at Harvard University for more than a decade.
Pietinen and colleagues (1997) evaluated the findings from the large cohort of Finnish men who were followed in a cancer prevention study. After controlling for the appropriate variables including several coronary risk factors, the authors observed a significant positive association between the intake of trans fatty acids and the risk of death from coronary disease. There was no association between the intake of saturated fatty acids or dietary cholesterol and the risk of coronary death. This is another example of the differences between the effects of the trans fatty acids and the saturated fatty acids, and a further challenge to the dietary cholesterol hypothesis.
The issue of the trans fatty acids as a causative factor in cancer remains underexplored, but recent reports have found a connection. Bakker and colleagues (1997) studied the data for the association between breast cancer incidence and linoleic acid status across European countries, since animal and ecological studies had suggested a relationship. They found that the mean fatty acid composition of adipose did not show an association with omega-6 linoleic acid and breast, colon or prostate cancer. However, cancers of the breast and colon were positively associated with the trans fatty acids. Kohlmeier and colleagues (1997) also reported that data from the EURAMIC study showed adipose tissue concentration of trans fatty acids having a positive association with postmenopausal breast cancer in European women.
In 1995, a British documentary on the trans fatty acids was aired on a major television station in the UK. This documentary included an exposé of the battle between the edible oil industry and some of the major researchers of the trans fatty acids. Just this year [1999], this same documentary was aired on television in France, where it had been requested by a major television station. Several of the early researchers into the trans problems, including Professor Fred Kummerow and Dr George Mann, have continued their research and/or writing (Kummerow, 1999, 2000; Mann, 1994, 2000). The popular media have continued to press the issue of the amounts of trans in foods, for which there are still no comprehensive government databases.
A recently published paper from a US Department of Agriculture researcher states: "Because trans fatty acids have no known health benefits and strong presumptive evidence suggests that they contribute markedly to the risk of developing CHD, the results published to date suggest that it would be prudent to lower the intake of trans fatty acids in the US diet" (Nelson, 1998).
Professor Meir Stampfer from Harvard University refers to trans fats as "one of the major nutritional issues of the nation", contending that "they have a large impact" and that "we should completely eliminate hydrogenated fats from the diet" (Gottesman, 1998). Lowering the trans fatty acids in foods in the US can only be done by returning to the use of the natural, unhydrogenated and more saturated fats and oils. Predictions can be made regarding the future of trans fatty acids. Our ability to predict has been pretty good; for example, when Enig Associates started producing the marketing newsletter Market Insights, written by Eric Enig, we predicted that trans fatty acids would eventually be swept out of the market. It appears that this prediction may be close to coming true. Also in the early 1990s, Market Insights predicted that the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) would change its mind about the trans fatty acids, which it had spent years defending. CSPI did change its mind, and in fact went on the attack regarding the trans, but CSPI never admitted that it had originally been promoting trans or that the high levels of trans fatty acids found in the fried foods in fast food and other restaurants and in many other foods are directly due to CSPI lobbying. While its change was welcome, CSPI's revisionist version of its own history of support of partially hydrogenated oils and trans fatty acids would have fitted perfectly into George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
VII. COMPARISON OF SATURATED FATS WITH THE TRANS FATS
The statement that trans fatty acids are like saturated fatty acids is not correct for biological systems. A listing of the biological effects of saturated fatty acids in the diet versus the biological effects of trans fatty acids in the diet is in actuality a listing of the good (saturated) versus the bad (trans).
When one compares the saturated fatty acids and the trans fatty acids, we see that:
1) saturated fatty acids raise HDL cholesterol, the so-called "good cholesterol", whereas the trans fatty acids lower HDL cholesterol (Mensink and Katan, 1990; Judd et al., 1994);
2) saturated fatty acids lower the blood levels of the atherogenic lipoprotein (a), whereas trans fatty acids raise the blood levels of lipoprotein (a) (Khosla and Hayes, 1996; Hornstra et al., 1991; Clevidence et al., 1997);
3) saturated fatty acids conserve the elongated omega-3 fatty acids (Gerster, 1998), whereas trans fatty acids cause the tissues to lose these omega-3 fatty acids (Sugano and Ikeda, 1996);
4) saturated fatty acids do not inhibit insulin binding, whereas trans fatty acids do inhibit insulin binding;
5) saturated fatty acids are the normal fatty acids made by the body and they do not interfere with enzyme functions such as the delta-6-desaturase, whereas trans fatty acids are not made by the body and they interfere with many enzyme functions such as delta-6-desaturase; and
6) some saturated fatty acids are used by the body to fight viruses, bacteria and protozoa and they support the immune system, whereas trans fatty acids interfere with the function of the immune system.
VIII. WHAT ABOUT THE UNSATURATED FATS?
The arteries of the heart are also compromised by the unsaturated fatty acids. When the fatty acid composition of the plaques (atheromas) in the arteries has been analysed, the level of saturated fatty acids in the cholesterol esters is only 26% compared to that in the unsaturated fatty acids, which is 74%. When the unsaturated fatty acids in the cholesterol esters in these plaques are analysed, it is shown that 38% are polyunsaturated and 36% are mono-unsaturated. Clearly, the problem is not with the saturated fatty acids.
As an aside, you need to understand that the major role of cholesterol in heart disease and cancer is as the body's repair substance and that cholesterol is a major support molecule for the immune system, an important antioxidant and a necessary component of neurotransmitter receptors. Our brains do not work very well without adequate cholesterol. It should be apparent to scientists that the current approach to cholesterol has been wrong.
The pathway to cholesterol synthesis starts with a molecule of acetyl CoA [coenzyme A] that comes from the metabolism of excess protein-forming ketogenic amino acids and from the metabolism of excess carbohydrates as well as from the oxidation of excess fatty acids. Grundy in 1978 reported that the degree of saturation of the fat in the diet did not affect the rate of synthesis of cholesterol. However, research reported by Jones in 1997 showed that the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet increase the rate of cholesterol synthesis relative to other fatty acids. Furthermore, research reported in 1993 (Hodgsons et al.) showed that dietary intake of the omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, linoleic acid, was positively related to coronary artery disease.
Thus, those statements made by the consumer activists in the United States, to the effect that the saturated fatty acids increase cholesterol synthesis, are without any foundation.
What happens when there is an increase or a decrease of cholesterol in the serum is more like a shift from one compartment to another as the body tries to rectify the potential damage from the excess polyunsaturated fatty acids. Research by Dr Hans Kaunitz (1978) clearly showed the potential problems with excess polyunsaturated fatty acids.
IX. RESEARCH SHOWING BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF EATING THE MORE SATURATED FATS
One major concern expressed by the nutrition community is related to whether or not people are getting enough elongated omega-3 fatty acids in their diets. The elongated omega-3 fatty acids of concern are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Some research has shown that the basic omega-3 fatty acid, linolenic acid, is not readily converted to the elongated forms in humans or animals, especially when there is ingestion of the trans fatty acids and the consequent inhibition of the delta-6-desaturase enzyme. One recent study (Gerster, 1998), which used radioisotope-labelled linolenic acid to measure this conversion in adult humans, showed that if the background fat in the diet was high in saturated fat, the conversion was approximately 6% for EPA and 3.8% for DHA; whereas, if the background fat in the diet was high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), the conversion was reduced 40-50%.
Nanji and colleagues (1995) reported that a diet enriched with saturated but not unsaturated fatty acids reversed the alcoholic liver injury in their animals which was caused by dietary linoleic acid. These researchers concluded that this effect may be explained by the down-regulation of lipid peroxidation. This is another example of the need for adequate saturated fat in the diet.
Cha and Sachan (1994) studied the effects of saturated fatty acid and unsaturated fatty acid diets on ethanol pharmacokinetics. The hepatic enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase and plasma carnitines were also evaluated. The researchers concluded that dietary saturated fatty acids protect the liver from alcohol injury by retarding ethanol metabolism, and that carnitine may be involved.
Hargrove and colleagues (1999) noted the work of Nanji et al. and postulated that they would find that diets rich in linoleic acid would also cause acute liver injury after acetaminophen injection. In the first experiment, two levels of fat (15g/100g protein and 20g/100g protein), using corn oil or beef tallow, were fed. Liver enzymes indicating damage were significantly elevated in all the animals except for those animals fed the higher level of beef tallow. These researchers concluded that "diets with high [linoleic acid] may promote acetaminophen-induced liver injury compared to diets with more saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids".
X. RESEARCH SHOWING GENERAL BENEFICIAL EFFECTS FROM CONSUMING COCONUT OIL
Research that compares the feeding of coconut oil with other oils to answer a variety of biological questions is increasingly finding beneficial results from the coconut oil.
Obesity is a major health problem in the United States and the subject of much research. Several lines of research dealing with metabolic effects of high-fat diets have been followed. One study used coconut oil to enrich a high-fat diet and the results reported were that the "coconut oil-enriched diet is effective in...[producing]...a decrease in white fat stores" (Portillo et al., 1998).
Cleary et al. (1999) fed genetically obese animals high-fat diets of either safflower oil or coconut oil. Animals fed safflower oil had higher hepatic lipogenic enzyme activities than did animals fed coconut oil. When the number of fat cells was measured, the safflower oil fed also had more fat cells than the coconut oil fed.
Many of the feeding studies produce results at variance with the popular conception. High-fat diets have been used to study the effects of different types of fatty acids on membrane phospholipid fatty acid profiles. When such a study was performed on mice, the phospholipid profiles were similar for diets high in linoleic acid from high-linoleate sunflower oil relative to diets high in saturated fatty acids from coconut oil. However, those animals fed diets high in oleic acid (from the high-oleate sunflower oil) or high in elongated omega-3 fatty acids (from menhaden fish oil) were not only different from the other two diets, but they also resulted in enlarged spleens in the animals (Huang and Frische, 1992).
Oliart-Ros and colleagues (1998) at the Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz, Mexico, reported on effects of different dietary fats on sucrose-induced cardiovascular syndrome in rats. The most significant reduction in parameters of the syndrome was obtained by the n-3 PUFA-rich diet. These researchers reported that the diet thought to be PUFA-deficient presented a tissue lipid pattern similar to the n-3 PUFA-rich diet (fish oil), which surprised and puzzled them. When the researchers were questioned, it turned out that the diet was not really PUFA-deficient, but rather just a normal coconut oil (nonhydrogenated) which conserved the elongated omega-3 and normalised the omega-6 to omega-3 balance.
A recent study measured the effect of high-fat diets, fed for more than three months to neonatal pigs, on the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme's function and gave some surprises. There were two feeding protocols: one with the added cholesterol and one without added cholesterol, but both with coconut oil. The hepatic reductase activity, which was the same in all groups at the beginning of the feeding on the third day and similar on the 42nd day, was increased with and without added cholesterol on the 13th day and then decreased on the 25th day. The data were said to suggest that dietary cholesterol suppressed hepatic reductase activity in the young pigs regardless of their genetic background, that the stage of development was a dominant factor in its regulation, and that both dietary and endogenously synthesised cholesterol were used primarily for tissue building in very young pigs (McWhinney et al., 1996). The feeding of coconut oil did not in any way compromise the normal development of these animals.
When compared with feeding coconut oil, feeding two different soybean oils to young females caused a significant decrease in HDL cholesterol. Both soybean oils, one of which was extracted from a new mutant soybean thought to be more oxidatively stable, were not protective of the HDL levels (Lu et al., 1997).
Trautwein et al. (1997) studied cholesterol-fed hamsters on different oil supplements for plasma, hepatic and biliary lipids. The dietary oils included butter, palm stearin, coconut oil, rapeseed oil, olive oil and sunflowerseed oil. Plasma cholesterol concentrations were higher (9.2 millimoles/litre) for olive oil than for coconut oil (8.5 mmol/L), hepatic cholesterol was highest in the olive oil group, and none of the diet groups differed for biliary lipids. Even in this cholesterol-sensitive animal model, coconut oil performed better than olive oil.
Smit and colleagues (1994) had also studied the effect of feeding coconut oil compared with feeding corn oil and olive oil in rats, and measured the effect on biliary cholesterol. Bile flow was not different between the three diets, but the hepatic plasma membranes showed more cholesterol and less phospholipid from corn and olive oil feeding relative to coconut oil feeding.
Several studies (Kramer et al., 1998) have pointed out problems with canola oil feeding in newborn piglets, which results in a reduction in the number of platelets and alteration in their size. There is concern for similar effects in human infants. These undesirable effects can be reversed when coconut oil or other saturated fat is added to the feeding regimen (Kramer et al., 1998).
Research has shown that coconut oil is needed for good absorption of fat and calcium from infant formulas. The soy oil (47%) and palm olein (53%) formula gave 90.6% absorption of fat and 39% absorption of calcium, whereas the soy oil (60%) and coconut oil (40%) gave 95.2% absorption of fat and 48.4% absorption of calcium (Nelson et al., 1996). Both fat and calcium are needed by the infant for proper growth. These results clearly show the folly of removing or lowering the coconut oil content in infant formulas.
XI. RESEARCH SHOWING A ROLE FOR COCONUT IN ENHANCING IMMUNITY AND MODULATING METABOLIC FUNCTIONS
Coconut oil appears to help the immune system response in a beneficial manner. Feeding coconut oil in the diet completely abolished the expected immune factor responses to endotoxin that were seen with corn oil feeding. This inhibitory effect on interleukin-1 production was interpreted by the authors of the study as being largely due to a reduced prostaglandin and leukotriene production (Wan and Grimble, 1987). However, the damping may be due to the fact that effects from high omega-6 oils tend to be normalised by coconut oil feeding.
Another report from this group (Bibby and Grimble, 1990) compared the effects of corn oil and coconut oil diets on tumour necrosis factor-alpha and endotoxin induction of the inflammatory prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production. The animals fed coconut oil did not produce an increase in PGE2, and the researchers again interpreted this as a modulatory effect that brought about a reduction of phospholipid arachidonic acid content.
Another study from the same research group (Tappia and Grimble, 1994) showed that omega-6 oil enhanced inflammatory stimuli, but that coconut oil, along with fish oil and olive oil, suppressed the production of interleukin-1.
Several recent studies are showing additional helpful effects of consuming coconut oil on a regular basis, thus supplying the body with the lauric acid derivative, monolaurin. Monolaurin and the ether analogue of monolaurin have been shown to have the potential for damping adverse reactions to toxic forms of glutamic acid (Dave et al., 1997). Lauric acid and capric acid have been reported to have very potent effects on insulin secretion (Garfinkel et al., 1992). Using a model system of murine splenocytes, Witcher et al. (1996) showed that monolaurin induced proliferation of T-cells and inhibited the toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 mitogenic effects on T-cells.
Monserrat and colleagues (1995) showed that a diet rich in coconut oil could protect animals against the renal necrosis and renal failure produced by a diet deficient in choline (a methyl donor group). The animals had less or no mortality and increased survival time as well as decreased incidence or severity of the renal lesions when 20% coconut oil was added to the deficient diet. A mixture of hydrogenated vegetable oil and corn oil did not show the same benefits.
The immune system is complex and has many feedback mechanisms to protect it, but the wrong fat and oils can compromise these important mechanisms. The data from the several studies show the helpful effects of coconut fat. Additionally, there are anecdotal reports that consumption of coconut is beneficial for individuals with the chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome known as CFIDS.
XII. US PATENTS FOR MEDICAL USES OF LAURIC OILS, MEDIUM-CHAIN FATTY ACIDS AND THEIR DERIVATIVES SUCH AS MONOLAURIN
A number of patents have been granted in the United States for medical uses of lauric oils, lauric acid and monolaurin. Although one earlier patent was granted to Professor Kabara more than three decades ago, the rest of these patents have been granted within the past decade.
In 1989 a patent was issued to the New England Deaconess Hospital (Bistrian et al., 1989) for the invention titled "Kernel Oils and Disease Treatment". This treatment requires lauric acid as the primary fatty acid source, with lauric oils constituting up to 80% of the fat in the diet "using naturally occurring kernel oils".
In 1991 and 1995, two patents were issued to the group of researchers whose work has been reviewed above.
The first invention (Isaacs et al., 1991) was directed to antiviral and antibacterial activity of both fatty acids and monoglycerides, primarily against enveloped viruses. The claims are for "a method of killing enveloped viruses in a host human...wherein the enveloped viruses are AIDS viruses...[or]...herpes viruses...[and the]...compounds selected from the group consisting of fatty acids having from 6 to 14 carbon atoms and monoglycerides of said fatty acids...[and]...wherein the fatty acids are saturated fatty acids".
The second patent (Isaacs et al., 1995) was a further extension of the earlier one. This patent also includes discussion of the inactivation of enveloped viruses, and it specifically cites monoglycerides of caproic, caprylic, capric, lauric and myristic acids. These fatty acids make up more than 80% of coconut oil. Also included in this patent is a listing of susceptible viruses and some bacteria and protozoa.
Although these latter patents may provide the owners of the patents with the ability to extract royalties from commercial manufacturers of monoglycerides and fatty acids, they cannot require royalties from the human gastrointestinal tract when it is the "factory" that is doing the manufacturing of the monoglycerides and fatty acids.
Clearly, though, these patents serve to illustrate to us that the health-giving properties of monolaurin and lauric acid are well recognised by some individuals in the research arena, and they lend credence to our appropriate choice of lauric oils for promoting health and as an adjunct treatment of viral diseases.
XIII. HOW CAN WE GET SUFFICIENT COCONUT FAT INTO THE FOOD SUPPLY?
I would like to review for you my perception of the status regarding the coconut and coconut products markets in the United States and Canada at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.
Coconut products are trying to regain their former place in several small markets. The extraction of oil from fresh coconut has been reported in the past decade and my impression is that this is being considered as a desirable source of minimally processed oil with desirable characteristics for the natural foods market.
There have been some niche markets for coconut products developing during the past half-decade. These are represented primarily by the natural foods and health foods producers. Some examples are the new coconut butters produced in the US and Canada by Omega Nutrition and Carotec, Inc. And this is no longer as small a market as it has been in past years. Desiccated coconut products, coconut milk and even coconut oil are appearing on the shelves of many of these markets. After years of packaging coconut oil for skin use only, one of the large suppliers of oils to the natural foods and health foods stores has introduced coconut oil for food use, and it has appeared within the last few months on shelves in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, along with other oils. I believe I indirectly had something to do with this turn of events.
XIV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
There is much to be gained from pursuing the functional properties of coconut for improving the health of humanity.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Asian Pacific Coconut Community, at this 36th meeting of APCC, I wanted to bring you a message that I hope will encourage you to continue your endeavours on behalf of all parts of the coconut industry. Coconut products for inedible and especially edible uses are of the greatest importance for the health of the entire world.
Some of what I have been telling you, most of you already know. But in saying these things for the record, it is my intention to tell those who did not know all the details until they heard or read this paper about the positive properties of coconut.
Coconut oil is a most important oil because it is a lauric oil. The lauric fats possess unique characteristics for both food industry uses and also for the uses of the soaps and cosmetics industries. Because of the unique properties of coconut oil, the fats and oils industry has spent untold millions to formulate replacements from those seed oils so widely grown in the world outside the tropics. While it has been impossible to truly duplicate coconut oil for some of its applications, many food manufacturers have been willing to settle for lesser quality in their products. Consumers have also been willing to settle for a lesser quality, in part because they have been fed so much misinformation about fats and oils.
Desiccated coconut, on the other hand, has been impossible to duplicate, and the markets for desiccated coconut have continued. The powdered form of desiccated coconut now being sold in Europe and Asia has yet to find a market in the United States, but I predict that it will become an indispensable product in the natural foods industry. Creamed coconut, which is desiccated coconut very finely ground, could be used as a nut butter.
APCC needs to promote the edible uses of coconut, and it needs to promote the re-education of the consumer, the clinician and the scientist. The researcher H. Thormar (Thormar et al., 1999) concluded his abstract with the statement that monocaprin "is a natural compound found in certain foodstuffs such as milk and is therefore unlikely to cause harmful side effects in the concentrations used". It is not monocaprin that is found in milk, but capric acid. It is likely safe at most any level found in food. However, the level in milk fat is at most 2%, whereas the level in coconut fat is 7%.
One last reference for the record. Sircar and Kansra (1998) have reviewed the increasing trend of atherosclerotic disease and type-2 diabetes mellitus in the Indians from both the subcontinent of India and abroad. They note that over the time when there has been an alarming increase in the prevalence of these diseases, there has been a replacement of traditional cooking fats with refined vegetable oils that are promoted as heart-friendly, but which are being found to be detrimental to health. These astute researchers suggest that it is time to return to the traditional cooking fats like ghee, coconut oil and mustard oil.
There are a number of areas of encouragement. The nutrition community in the United States is slowly starting to recognise the difference between medium-chain saturated fatty acids and other saturated fatty acids. We predict now that the qualities of coconut, both for health and food function, will ultimately win out.
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About the Author:
Dr Mary G. Enig holds an MS and PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Maryland in the USA. She is a consulting nutritionist and biochemist of international renown and an expert in fats/oils analysis and metabolism, food chemistry and composition and nutrition and dietetics.
Dr Enig is Director of the Nutritional Sciences Division of Enig Associates, Inc., President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. She is also Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Science Editor of the Foundation's publication. Dr Enig has many years of experience as a lecturer and has taught graduate-level courses for the Nutritional Sciences Program at the University of Maryland, where she was a Faculty Research Associate in the Lipids Research Group, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland. She also maintains a limited clinical practice for patients needing nutritional assessment and consultation.
Dr Enig has extensive experience consulting and lecturing on nutrition to individuals, medical and allied health groups, the food processing industry and state and federal governments in the US. She also lectures and acts as a consultant to the international health and food processing communities. Since 1995 she has been invited to make presentations at scientific meetings in Europe, India, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Micronesia.
Dr Enig is the author of numerous journal publications, mainly on fats and oils research and nutrient/drug interactions. She also wrote the book Know Your Fats (Bethesda Press, Silver Spring, MD, May 2000). She is a popular media spokesperson and was an early critic speaking out about the use of trans fatty acids and advocating their inclusion in nutritional labelling.
One of Dr Enig's recent research topics dealt with the development of a nutritional protocol for proposed clinical trials of a non-drug treatment for HIV/AIDS patients. Her articles, "The Oiling of America" and "Tragedy and Hype: The Third International Soy Symposium", written with nutritionist/ researcher Sally Fallon, were published in NEXUS 6/01 6/02 and 7/03 respectively.
cocoanut sugar
http://www.azukarorganics.com/cocosugar.htm
The scientific name for coconut is Cocos nucifera. Early Spanish explorers called it coco, which means "monkey face" because the three indentations (eyes) on the hairy nut resembles the head and face of a monkey. Nucifera means "nut-bearing."
The coconut provides a nutritious source of meat, juice, milk, and oil that has fed and nourished populations around the world for generations. Nearly one third of the world's population depends on coconut to some degree for their food and their economy.
Coconut is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It is classified as a "functional food" because it provides many health benefits beyond its nutritional content. Coconut oil is of special interest because it possesses healing properties far beyond that of any other dietary oil and is extensively used in traditional medicine among Asian and Pacific
populations. Pacific Islanders consider coconut oil to be the cure for all illness. The coconut palm is so highly valued by them as both a source of food and medicine that it is called "The Tree of Life." Only recently has modern medical science unlocked the secrets to coconut's amazing healing powers.
USES OF COCONUT
The Coconut Tree (Cocos Nucifera L.) is called "The Tree of Life" because of the endless list of products and by-products derived from its various parts. Food, shelter, fuel - name it, the coconut has it.
Coconut Meat
From coco meat can be obtained coco flour, desiccated coconut, coconut milk, coconut chips, candies, bukayo or local sweetened shredded coconut meat, latik copra and animal feeds.
Coco chips, which are curved and wrinkled coconut meat, is crisply toasted and salted. It is very popular in Hawaii.
Coconut flour can be used as a wheat extender in baking certain products without affecting their appearance or acceptability.
The coconut milk is a good protein source. Whole coco milk contains about 22% oil, which accounts for its laxative property.
Coconut Oil
Copra is dried coconut meat that has a high oil content, as much as 64%. Coconut oil is the most readily digested of all the fats of general use in the world. The oil furnishes about 9,500 calories of energy per kilogram. Its chief competitors are soya bean oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil.
Coconut oil retards aging. It counteracts heart, colon, pancreatic and liver tumor inducers. And it is easy to digest.
In the detergent industry, coconut oil is very important. Its most outstanding characteristic is its high saponification value in view of the molecular weight of most of the fatty acid glycerides it contains.
An advantageous utilization of the coconut oil as a detergent was discovered in a May 1951 study wherein a formulation using coconut oil was found to be an effective sanitizer.
Other products from coco oil are soap, lard, coco chemicals, crude oil, pomade, shampoo, margarine, butter and cooking oil.
Coconut Leaves
Cocnut leaves produce good quality paper pulp, midrib brooms, hats and mats, fruit trays, waste baskets, fans, beautiful midrib decors, lamp shades, placemats, bags and utility roof materials.
Coconut Fruit
The coconut fruit produces buko, often used for salads, halo-halo( crushed ice with sweetened fruit), sweets and pastries. Buko is of three kinds: mala-kanin, or having the consistency of boiled rice; mala-uhog, mucus-like consistency and ready for eating; and mala-katad, or like leather. The last kind is the one used for making sweets.
A mature coconut, or niyog is used in making sweets and special Filipino dishes.
The "sport fruit" of the coconut is the makapuno. Considered a delightful delicacy and largely used for making preserves and ice-cream, it cannot be kept in storage and will not germinate. It has three layers: semi-acid, soft and hard meat.
Coconut Water
Coconut water is also called liquid endosperm. It is thrown away during copra making and becomes a great waste. Uses of coconut water include: coconut water vinegar; coconut wine; production of the chewy, fiber-rich nata good as a dessert and as alaxative; as a growth factor; and as a substitute for dextrose.
Another breakthrough use is in coconut water theraphy to cure renal disorders. "Bukolysis", as it is also called, is the medical process of reducing or dissolving urinary stones of the urinary tract systems using buko water from 7 to 9 months old coconuts. Bukolysis is the brainchild of Dr. Eufemio Macalalag Jr., a urologist. For preventive medication, water from one mature coconut consumed daily, could almost guarantee that the formation of stones in the urinary tract will be avoided. To those already afflicted, the coconut water theraphy has been proven to be an inexpensive and effective cure. Coconut water is commonly promoted as an economical thirst quencher, hunger satisfier and medical cure for renal disorders all in one.
Using coconut water, a nata de coco-like growth produced after 14 days which, when cooked in syrup, is apopular dessert. When mixed with other ingredients, like the making of fruit salad, it will enhance the flavor of the dish. And whoever said that nata de coco is just for food was wrong. This nata-like growth is dextran and can be made to comply with the specifications for clinical dextran, then we have in the coconut water an important contribution in the atomic defense against radiation sickness.
Coconut Husk
Coconut husks are made of bristle fiber (10%), mattress fiber (20%) and coir dust and shorts or wastes (70%).
The abundance of fiber nakes it good, stable supply for cottage industries that make brushes, doormats, carpets, bags, ropes, yarn fishing nets, and mattresses, etc.
Coir fiber can also be used as substitute for jute in making rice, copra, sugar, coffee, bags and sandbags. It is also suitable for making pulp and paper, etc. For the first time, the Philippines can export coir fiber to Japan, Germany and the United States with the proper assistance extended by the government, the industry being new.
The well board is manufactured from coir dust and short fibers. No binding materials are needed as lignin is inherent in the coconut husk. Also it is termite-proof because creosote is present in the new material. The board produced is as good as narra, plywood or masonite.
Coir yarn, coir rope, bags, rugs, husk decor, husk polishes, mannequin wig, brush, coirflex, and fishnets are other products that can be obtained from coco husk. Out of coir dust can be obtined coco gas, lye insulator, insoflex and plastic materials.
Coconut Pith
Out of its pith can be produced coco pickles, guinatan and lumpia. Its guinit can produce helmets, caps, wooden shoe straps, handbags, fans, picture and house decor like lamp shades and guinit flowers for the table.
Ever heard of the "Millionaire's Salad"? It's fit for any ordinary man though, it is made up of "palmetto cabbage" which, when translated properly, is simply the local ubod or the "heart" of the coconut. Actually, ubod is considered one of the finest vegetables in the Philippines. It can be served in many appetizing ways. Cubed in fairly large bits, it makes wonderful addition to Spanish rice, or in their long strips, to Arroz a la Cubana. As a salad, it is mixed with mayonnaise or thousand island dressing and heaped onto lettuce leaves, red pepper, chopped spring onions, paprika, or a combination of some of those may be used to garnish this all-white salad. Crab meat with ubod in lumpia can prove to be very delicious.
Infloresence
Out of the bud of the coconut tree's infloresence is a juice called coconut toddy or tuba. The fermented juice is the common alcoholic drink in the coconut region. The fermented tuba would be a good drink even to those who enjoy the finer things. The principal uses of the toddy are: as fresh beverage; for producing alcoholic beverages; for producing vinegar; for making sugar; and as a source of yeast for making bread.
Coconut toddy, after being left for five days then distilled, produces an alcoholic spirit known locally as lambanog which is more or less 98% proof. In its taste, sweet toddy is a liquid containing essentially 12 to 18% sugar (sucrose).
Other products from the coconut tree's infloresence are gin, vinegar, candy trays, Christmas and wall decor.
Coconut Shell
Coconut shell produces the core of the most saleable household products and fashion accessories that can be turned into lucrative, wide-selling cottage industries. Among them are shell necklaces, shell bags, cigarette boxes, shell ladles, buttons, lamp shades, fruit and ash trays, guitars, placemats, coffee pots, cups, wind chimes, "coco banks", briquetted charcoal and activated carbon.
The most important use of coconut shell is activated carbon produced from its charcoal. It is utilized in air purification systems such as cooker hoods, air conditioning, industrial gas purification systems, and industrial and gas masks.
Coconut Trunk & Roots
Out of the coconut trunk, hardy and durable wood is obtained to make benches, tables, carvings, picture frames, tables, tool boxes, and construction materials, among many others. Paper pulp can also be extracted from the coconut trunk and other woody parts of the tree. Among the woody parts of the tree, the trunk gives the highest pulp yield of 43%; the midribs, 41%, and the petiole or the slender stop that support the leaf, 32%. Tests also show that coconut coir (80%) and abaca bleached sulfate pulp (40%) are a good combination in the production of offset bookpaper.
Medicine, beverages and dyestuff are obtained from the coconut roots.
Source: Philippine Coconut Authority
http://www.azukarorganics.com/index.htm
http://www.azukarorganics.com/index.htm
interview with Salloy Falon on health / very good imo
Air Date: 02/15/2010
SALLY FALLON MORELL is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, with Mary G. Enig, PhD as co-author. This thought -provoking book contains a surprising message: saturated fat and cholesterol are not enemies but play vital roles in human biochemistry.
coconut nut oil is discussed
http://ds1.downloadtech.net/cn1086/audio/10872265815145-001.mp3
Coconut Kefir
You have probably tasted coconut milk, dried shredded coconut, or coconut juice in a smoothie or a Pina Colada or perhaps in pinapple-coconut juice. These products, though delicious, are very different from drinking or eating nutrition-packed fresh coconut and the wonder-food kefir that can be made from it. Coconut kefir is especially useful when Candida cleansing because it is a non-dairy source of beneficial microflora .
When making coconut kefir, young or fresh coconuts are used rather than mature, dry coconuts. Young coconuts are generally found husked, with the thick outer green shell removed before landing in the health food stores or Asian markets they are commonly found in. Although the liquid of the young coconut, often referred to as coconut milk, juice or water, has an abundance of minerals, drinking much is too sweet to be medicinal. It would make the body too acidic and cause imbalance. However, adding kefir starter to the liquid and culturing it makes coconut water a near-perfect food.
All you need to make coconut kefir is a few tools, and of course coconut water and kefir starter. The simple process requires combining the starter with the coconut water and letting it rest for 24 hours at room temperature. A delightfully fizzy, tart, champagne-like drink, similar in texture to a mild sugar-free spritzer, is born.
Instructions for making Coconut Kefir
Follow directions for opening a coconut. Pour the water from 4 coconuts into a clean glass jar and add one package of kefir starter. Allow to sit on the counter for 24-48 hours during which time a gentle fermentation process takes place. You'll know it's done when the color changes to a milky white and there's a bit of bubbling or foam on top. This means all the sugar has been removed. When you drink it, make sure it tastes tart and tangy. This is another sign that all the sugar has been digested in the fermentation process. You can use approximately a quarter cup from your first batch of kefir to transfer the friendly bacteria to your next batch. Do this up to 4 times with one package of starter. When the weather turns cold, warm the liquid to about 90 degrees before adding the starter. Then place the glass jar into an insulated container so it will remain at a steady temperature of about 70 degrees while fermenting.
Benefits
1.Quells sugar cravings
2.Aids digestion of all foods
3.Tonifies the intestines
4.Cleanses the liver; eases aches and joint pains; contributes to a clearer complexion; helps brown liver spots to fade away; causes skin tags, moles, and warts to dry up and disappear; improves vision.
5.Contains high levels of valuable minerals
6.Has a cleansing effect on the endocrine system (adrenals, thyroid, pituitary, ovaries). Women find their periods are cleaner and healthier; some who had experienced early menopause have found this important monthly cleaning returning again.
7.Increases energy and feelings of good health
Ways to Enjoy Coconut Kefir
Young green coconuts yield several delicious foods. You can ferment the water into delicious, healing kefir. A half cup of coconut water kefir with meals greatly helps digestion. You can add ginger, stevia, lemon, and/or lime if desired. A half cup at bedtime will help establish a healthy inner ecosystem. In the morning, combine a half cup of young coconut water with unsweetened cranberry or black currant juice as a great wakeup tonic. When you start introducing fruits into your diet, the coconut kefir microflora will happily enjoy the sugar in the fruit and leave you with its vitamins and minerals.
You can also eat the very special meat lining the inside of the coconut. Soft, pudding-like, high in protein, enzyme-rich, and very easy to digest, coconut meat is bliss in a seed. Like all seeds and nuts, it is a protein fat, but this seed provides an excellent source of lauric and caprylic fatty acids. You can scoop the meat out of the shell and eat it raw; it tastes like a tropical dream come true. The meat can also be put in a blender with enough water to make it the consistency of guacamole, and then fermented. Just add kefir starter, and in 24 hours you'll have a sort of kefir “cheese”, a fabulous fermented base for salad dressings, dips, or just plain eating as-is. It's like eating yogurt, only dairy-free. Enjoy it as custard by sweetening it with stevia and a favorite flavoring, such as fresh lemon juice or a glycerin-based vanilla flavoring which is acceptable for Candida Cleansing. Make coconut kefir a part of your Candida diet for variety and pleasure.
this is made in the coconut shell by cutting out the top of the coconut and saving the part you cut out as a cover.
Men leave their own mark on veganism
A pasta dish with chickpeas, onion, garlic, olive oil, and basil is a vegan dish a hegan could sink his teeth into. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
By Kathleen Pierce
Globe Correspondent / March 24, 2010
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2010/03/24/men_leave_their_own_mark_on_veganism/
SOMERVILLE — For most of his life Joe McCain subsisted on pepperoni and sausage pizza, steak bomb subs, and anything “fried, fried, or fried.’’ In other words, says the Somerville police detective with a shaved head, snowy beard, and tattoos cascading up his arms, chest, and neck, “I ate like an American.’’
When McCain reached his mid-40s the party ended. Topping the scales at 257 pounds and bulging out of his clothes, the stout father of three was fat, unhappy, and “terribly uncomfortable.’’ On the advice of his childhood friend Brian Rothwell, a yoga instructor and lifelong vegan, McCain cut meat, dairy, eggs, chicken, and fish from his diet and added power vinyasa yoga, which helped him shed 60 pounds in eight months. “I feel like a million bucks. And if anything, I don’t look like a slob anymore,’’ says McCain.
Three years later, sipping a yerba mate latte at the Sherman Cafe in Union Square, the buff and bright-eyed McCain is the new face of veganism: men in their 40s and 50s embracing a restrictive lifestyle to look better, rectify a gluttonous past, or cheat death. They are hegans. They are healthy. And they are here to stay. While no one was looking, guys were stepping up to the wheatgrass bar. Famous hegans include “Spider-Man’’ Tobey Maguire and singer Thom Yorke of Radiohead. Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez was vegan for a few years but now eats seafood and chicken on occasion.
Perhaps the ultimate hegan is Rip Esselstyn, a veteran firefighter and triathlete in Austin, Texas. He helped the men in his department lower their cholesterol in 28 days by shunning animal protein and then turned his efforts into the best-selling “The Engine 2 Diet’’ (Wellness Central). Though not billed as a vegan diet per se, Esselstyn’s “plant-strong’’ lifestyle helps lower cholesterol by going meat-, egg-, and dairy-free, he says. “Sure there is a stigma attached to it, that it’s for yuppie, tree-hugging, emaciated weaklings,’’ he says. “That is far from the truth. I like to say that real men eat plants.’’
Eric Faulkner, a professional in high tech, is baking a batch of vegan cookies in his Lowell loft. He minces few words to explain why he became a vegan. “I’m scared to death of cancer,’’ says the lanky 42-year-old. After reading “The China Study’’ (Benbella Books), which purports that animal protein can accelerate the growth of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, Faulkner ate his last cheeseburger.
For the past eight months meals in his household have been healthy remakes of meaty standbys. “I make a great avocado Reuben sandwich, a faux meat loaf, roasted butternut squash soup, and lots of pasta,’’ says Faulkner, whose wife and 8-year-old daughter have also converted.
To stay competitive during rugby games, athlete and writer Jay Atkinson of Methuen substituted soy cheese for the real deal last summer and cut out turkey sandwiches. “I needed to extend my career by staying lean,’’ says Atkinson, 52. He was already eating well before he turned to veganism. Commuting to Boston to teach magazine writing at Boston University or slapping on skates to whiz across a frozen pond, he needs as much fuel as he can get. The vegan diet delivers.
“During the week I’m hustling. This is the perfect diet. I couldn’t bring a ham with me,’’ says Atkinson, who tosses protein bars, fruit, and water into a pack before heading out for the day. Like most hegans, Atkinson, a single father, taught himself to cook. Spicy black bean chipotle stew and potato and asparagus soup with fresh dill are two of his specialties. He feels nutritionally satisfied as a vegan, but admits there are some drawbacks. “The big thing is learning to cook for variety. I’d like to be able to make 30 to 40 meals instead of 10,’’ he said.
There are no hard numbers on how many hegans exists. By nature most men don’t make their eating habits public. “I’ve never been called one,’’ said Bob Bouley, owner of the new vegan restaurant, The Pulse Cafe, in Davis Square (see Cheap Eats review, Page 3). “Being a vegan is not something I flaunt, it’s just something I believe in.’’
Of the diners who flock to his warm, Caribbean-toned cafe for smoked tofu and portobello maki, a majority are women, Bouley says. “Judging from our Facebook page, 65 to 70 percent of our fans are women between the ages of 18 and 35.’’
In Newton, the raw vegan restaurant Prana Cafe is poised to become hegan headquarters. On a rainy evening last month, Fred Bisci, 80, the well-known lifestyle nutritionist from Staten Island, N.Y., dined on bountiful greens in the candy-colored cafe that serves smoothies, salads, and vegan wine next to a yoga studio. In town for a speaking engagement, the limber and chiseled hegan of 40 years, is a walking tribute to eating lean. “A lot of people think it’s radical. It definitely prolongs your life. No question about it,’’ says Bisci.
Taylor Wells, who owns the cafe and yoga enterprise with her hegan husband, Philippe, estimates that 10 to 15 percent of their customers are hegans. “We get men who come in who want to cleanse and feel good. We like to ease them into it. I think the word vegan gets a bad rap, it sounds very militant and angry,’’ says Wells.
But hegan could catch on. “It makes sense that it would become a new fad. We are seeing more men in our yoga classes and they come directly into the cafe,’’ she says.
Despite the proliferation of vegan products on the market and restaurants that cater to this growing vegetarian subset, hegan living is not always harmonious. There are times, especially in the summer, when McCain will catch a whiff of a neighbor’s barbecue and his inner carnivore will start to roar. But the temptation doesn’t take over. “When you start to feel the way I do and see the results from eating right and working out, it’s hard to think about changing,’’ he says.
One thing he would like to change is the misconception that being a vegan means being on a diet. “The thing I hear all the time is: ‘Are you still on that diet?’ It’s the farthest thing from a diet. I don’t feel limited at all. If anything, what I eat has expanded not contracted,’’ he says. “I will never diet ever again.’’
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
thats the brand I have been using NUTIVA, but also recently been buying NSI from vitacost.com.
Coconut OIL Treatment for Hair, Skin, Scalp Deep conditoner
How We Discovered Virgin Coconut Oil - An Interview with Brian Shilhavy, CEO Tropical Traditions
The saying "If a picture is worth a thousand words" then ---
an animated sequence of pictures must be worth so much more--
describes the added worth of that new website.
Don't forget to drink a couple of glasses of pristine water before practicing--
to lube all the joints brought into play by that routine!
futr
I personally use coconut oil as my skin lotion and I think it is the best I have ever used. jfyi
5 Tibetan Energy Rejuvenation Rites
http://www.lifeevents.org/5-tibetans-energy-rejuvenation-exercises.htm
MY NOTE: When I am in good shape, I do calisthenics for 30 minutes and then perform the 5 Tibetan Rites as shown in the link above. As I'm recovering from a recent cataract operation, I will just walk a lot each day, up to 4 miles, and then in the summer I will resume the rites.
I have two workout mats.
I use a three-fold Frelonic comfort cushion mat for rites 2 & 3. [unfolded or laid out flat for rite 2 and folded for rite 3].
I use a slip resistance mate for rites 4 & 5, as seen below:
http://www.barefootyoga.com/Detail.bok?category=Yoga+Mats&no=2
Before beginning this rite program, I reviewed it with my physician. He is now using the same program.
Lastly, the five rites and alternatives to the five rites are reviewed in the following link:
http://www.mkprojects.com/pf_TibetanRites.htm
sumisu
Treat Acne With Coconut Oil and Nano-Bombs
ScienceDaily (Apr. 15, 2010)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100414184224.htm
A natural product found in both coconut oil and human breast milk -- lauric acid -- shines as a possible new acne treatment thanks to a bioengineering graduate student from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
The student developed a "smart delivery system" -- published in the journal ACS Nano in March -- capable of delivering lauric-acid-filled nano-scale bombs directly to skin-dwelling bacteria (Propionibacterium acnes) that cause common acne.
On Thursday April 15, bioengineering graduate student Dissaya "Nu" Pornpattananangkul will present her most recent work on this experimental acne-drug-delivery system at Research Expo, the annual research conference of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
Common acne, also known as "acne vulgaris," afflicts more than 85 percent of teenagers and over 40 million people in the United States; and current treatments have undesirable side effects including redness and burning. Lauric-acid-based treatments could avoid these side effects, the UC San Diego researchers say.
"It's a good feeling to know that I have a chance to develop a drug that could help people with acne," said Pornpattananangkul, who performs this research in the Nanomaterials and Nanomedicine Laboratory of UC San Diego NanoEngineering professor Liangfang Zhang from the Jacobs School of Engineering.
The new smart delivery system includes gold nanoparticles attached to surfaces of lauric-acid-filled nano-bombs. The gold nanoparticles keep the nano-bombs (liposomes) from fusing together. The gold nanoparticles also help the liposomes locate acne-causing bacteria based on the skin microenvironment, including pH.
Once the nano-bombs reach the bacterial membranes, the acidic microenvironment causes the gold nanoparticles to drop off. This frees the liposomes carrying lauric acid payloads to fuse with bacterial membranes and kill the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria.
"Precisely controlled nano-scale delivery of drugs that are applied topically to the skin could significantly improve the treatment of skin bacterial infections. By delivering drugs directly to the bacteria of interest, we hope to boost antimicrobial efficacy and minimize off-target adverse effects," said Zhang. "All building blocks of the nano-bombs are either natural products or have been approved for clinical use, which means these nano-bombs are likely to be tested on humans in the near future."
Zhang noted that nano-scale topical drug delivery systems face a different set of challenges than systems that use nanotechnology to deliver drugs systematically to people.
Pornpattananangkul and UC San Diego chemical engineering undergraduate Darren Yang confirmed, in 2009 in the journal Biomaterials, the antimicrobial activity of nano-scale packets of lauric acid against Propionibacterium acnes.
Pornpattananangkul, who is originally from Thailand, said that it's just a coincidence that her research involves a natural product produced by coconuts -- a staple of Thai cuisine.
10 Best and Worst Foods for You
April 22, 2010
Recently, scientists proudly announced their creation of an index to rank how particular foods encourage or discourage inflammation -- a well-known contributor to chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia. This is great in theory, but scientists being scientists, it’s all obscure algorithms and formulas -- hardly a useful list to take to the grocery store. So I asked contributing medical editor and nutrition expert Andrew L. Rubman, ND, to give us his easy-to-follow list of foods that reduce inflammation -- making us healthier -- along with the most inflammatory foods that should be avoided. But first, the latest findings by researchers...
How Do Foods Spark Inflammation?
Philip P. Cavicchia, MSPH, a PhD student in the department of epidemiology at the Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, helped design this new inflammatory index. He and his colleagues scored 41 foods and food components thought to positively or negatively affect levels of inflammation, based on a review of all the English language, peer-reviewed studies relating to diet and inflammation that were published between 1950 and 2007.
Carbohydrates, fat and cholesterol were among the food components most likely to encourage inflammation, while magnesium, beta-carotene, vitamins A, B-6, C, D and E, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, turmeric and tea were the strongest anti-inflammatories.
Next, using data from the Seasonal Variation of Cholesterol Levels Study (SEASONS), they examined the records of 494 men and women (average age 48), looking specifically at the relationship between the inflammatory index (what they ate) and their blood levels of C-reactive protein (typically called CRP). Manufactured by the liver, CRP predicts vulnerability to inflammation and is also elevated in people with obesity, allergies and immune disorders -- a lower CRP is thought to translate to reduced risk for heart disease, cancer and other inflammation-related chronic health conditions.
After factoring in variables such as age, weight and smoking status, Cavicchia and his team found that there is indeed a relationship between an anti-inflammatory diet based on the inflammatory index and a reduced level of CRP.
These findings appeared in the December 2009 issue of The Journal of Nutrition.
Now, here are Dr. Rubman’s picks of the best and worst foods if you want to reduce inflammation in your body...
10 BEST ANTI-INFLAMMATORY FOODS
Wild salmon, mackerel and other omega-3-fatty-acid-rich fish.
Berries.
Green, leafy vegetables (e.g., spinach and kale).
Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, etc.).
Deeply pigmented produce, such as sweet potatoes, eggplant and pomegranate... along with carrots, plums, oranges, peppers, peas and red grapes.
Nuts.
Whole grains.
Tea -- specifically black, green and white teas.
Cold-pressed fresh oils, including avocado, flaxseed and olive oils in particular.
Spices (specifically, garlic, ginger, turmeric, saffron).
10 WORST INFLAMMATORY FOODS
Desserts made with lots of sugar (cookies, candy, ice cream and so on).
Sweetened cereals.
"White" carbohydrates (white bread, white rice, white potatoes, English muffins, etc.).
Non-diet soft drinks.
Anything containing high-fructose corn syrup.
Processed meats (bologna, salami, hotdogs, sausage and others made with preservatives and additives).
French fries, potato chips and other fried snack foods.
Fast foods, most specifically the ones that are high-fat, high-calorie, high simple carbohydrate -- which describes most of the inexpensive offerings at quick-serve restaurants.
Margarine, because it contains processed sterols called stanols that have been implicated in both atherosclerosis and various fatty-deposit diseases.
Organ meats such as liver, because these often contain undesirable products including antibiotics, fertilizer and other unwanted residues.
How to Feel Better Fast
While on the topic, Dr. Rubman urged me to add one more bit of information to this "highly inflammatory" list. "It should also include almost any food eaten quickly, especially if you drink a lot of liquid while eating," he said, noting that this is all the more true for people who then end up soothing their predictable digestive distress by taking anti-heartburn medication. His advice is to eat slowly... chew thoroughly... avoid liquids during a meal so that you don’t dilute the stomach acid and reduce its ability to help digest food... and include items from the "best" list in every meal, every day, while eliminating those from the "worst" list or at least reserving them for an occasional treat. "Within weeks, you will decrease your risk for disease, improve your digestion, enjoy more energy and feel better overall," he promised.
Source(s):
Philip P. Cavicchia, MSPH, student in the department of epidemiology, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
Andrew L. Rubman, ND, director, Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, Connecticut. www.southburyclinic.com.
Bookmarked this website-- eom
THE CHIA 'CHEAT SHEET'
by Angela Stokes
http://www.rawreform.com/content/view/345/127/
9 Little Known Secrets to Living Past 90
March 19, 2010
http://bsntomsn.org/2010/9-little-known-secrets-to-living-past-90/
Coconut oil health benefits.
http://products.mercola.com/coconut-oil/
from sumtingwong
Unsavory Truth About Vegetable Oils
In a recent profile of Whole Foods cofounder and CEO John Mackey, he said that he had given up sugar, most processed foods and vegetable oils. Vegetable oils? Most people think these are healthy, but they’re not... here’s why.
It used to be that heavy weights were used to squeeze the oil from plants (which is what’s really meant by the term "vegetable oil"), but now most manufacturers use heat and chemical solvents, in particular petroleum-derived hexane. Both methods end up removing potential health benefits, I learned from Maggie Ward, MS, RD, LDN, nutrition director of Dr. Mark Hyman’s UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. The principle demon is heat. At certain temperatures, heat oxidizes and neutralizes many of the plant’s nutrients. This makes the oil rancid (yes -- even though you can’t tell, which I will explain in a minute) and as a result, the oil’s healthy antioxidants and essential fatty acids are replaced by destructive free radicals.
Adding insult to injury, most vegetable oils are then refined after extraction -- using yet more chemicals and high heat to bleach and deodorize them. This removes color to make the oil look more appealing and erases any rancid smell and taste. The result is oil that is bland enough to add moisture and texture without changing the taste of baked foods, for instance. And the supposed benefit is that cooks can use these oils for frying, because they can be taken to high temperatures without smoking. But the real result of all this processing means that we end up using nutritionally void oil to cook in a way that is inherently unhealthful. And yes, this includes oils such as soybean and canola oil that are marketed as "healthy" and "good for you."
Does Healthful Oil Exist?
Don’t throw up your hands in frustration -- there are oils that are good for you, produced in ways that preserve their health-giving properties, says Ward. Here’s a list, along with what you need to know about them...
Olive oil. Olive oil is the leader of the pack when it comes to health, but it requires careful handling. Purchase only olive oil that is cold-pressed (it will say this on the label) and preferably extra-virgin, which will have the most nutrients. When cooking with olive oil, Ward cautions against using heat higher than medium, and if the oil does start to smoke, she says, it should be thrown out. Not only will the heat make it rancid, it will destroy nutrients and create carcinogens, Ward says.
To cook healthfully with olive oil, preheat the pan for up to a minute and then add the food and oil at the same time rather than starting with the oil alone. This prevents overheating and provides a bonus -- the food better absorbs the oil’s healthy essential fatty acids. For added flavor and health, sprinkle a bit of olive oil over the food when you have finished cooking. To store olive oil: Keep it in a dark glass bottle or any opaque container in your cabinet or on the counter -- no need to refrigerate unless your kitchen is exceptionally warm.
Tropical oils. Coconut and, to a lesser degree, palm oil have had a health resurgence in recent years. As saturated fats, these used to be considered heart unhealthy, but this type of oil is now recognized by physicians and scientists as necessary and good for you (though not in excess). These oils will not oxidize, so you can cook with them at higher temperatures. Storage for coconut and palm oils: Since these oils are not temperature- or light-sensitive, it is fine to store them on the counter or in the pantry.
Seed and nut oils. Some seed and nut oils have become popular as seasoning added to salads and other dishes after cooking. Sesame oil, for example, has plenty of antioxidants, and Ward says that unrefined sesame oil retains more of its nutrients because the seeds are easy to press. However, seed and nut oils turn rancid quickly (even when kept cool), so it is best to buy small quantities that you can use within a few weeks. Sniff the oil before using -- toss it if it no longer smells fresh. Nut and seed oil storage: Refrigerate in dark bottles.
Source(s):
Maggie Ward, MS, RD, LDL, nutrition director of Dr. Mark Hyman’s UltraWellness Center, Lenox, Massachusetts. www.UltraWellnessCenter.com.
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The purpose of this baord is to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil.
HELPFUL LINKS:
The Great Fat Debate - Why Virgin Coconut Oil Is Best
http://www.naturalnews.com/022313_saturated_fat_coconut_oil_fats.html
COCONUT RESEARCH CENTER HOME PAGE http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/
The Coconut Diet http://coconutdiet.com/index.htm
Coconutoil.com http://www.coconutoil.com/index.html
VENDOR LINKS
Tropical Traditions http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/virgin_coconut_oil.htm
BOOK LIST
Virgin Coconut Oil: How It Has Changed People's Lives, and How It Can Change Yours!
by Brian Shilhavy and Marianita Jader Shilhavy
#msg-32288913
OTHER HEALTH LINKS
Natural News.com http://www.naturalnews.com/Index.html
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