It’s been a long time since people start to believe that coconut oil is the main contributor to many diseases such as heart disease. It is because coconut oil mostly consisted of saturated fat which most people think not good for our health. Is the stereotype proved? But how about the recent opinion that coconut oil can be the healthiest oil for us? Well, this recent opinion might be true if we look deeper into the evidence that it has its health benefits. Almost 90% substances contained in this oil consist of saturated fat. The other nutrients contained in this type of oil are vitamin A, D E, and K.

There are many types of coconut oil, such as virgin coconut oil, extra virgin coconut oil, and refined coconut oil. besides virgin coconut oil, virgin red palm oil is also beneficial. here are health benefits of virgin red palm oil. back to the main topic, refined coconut oil is known for its neutral taste and scent, also the high smoke points.

The high smoke point makes refined coconut oil is very suitable for high heat cooking such as deep frying. Since we talked about the benefits of coconut oil for cooking, here are the benefits of refined coconut oil for cooking.

1. Prevents heart diseases

Saturated fat might be the dominant component in coconut oil. However, the saturated fat in this oil is different with those contained in cheese and butter. Some new research in America even stated that the saturated fat doesn’t mainly relate to the cause of heart disease. And they prove also emphasize that people who reduce the use of this oil tend to die faster because of heart attack, compared to those who regularly use this oil for their cooking.

The saturated fat in this oil contains medium chain triglycerides which is differently metabolism. This type of fatty acid tend to change into energy faster than the other types of fatty acid which is hardly metabolized and stick into the artery wall. Therefore, the medium chain triglycerides in coconut oil don’t make your heart work harder. It also makes the heart diseases such as coronary heart and strokes go away from you.

2. Support in providing quick energy

As mentioned above, the saturated fat in coconut oil for your favorite scramble egg can quickly change into energy. It is because the medium chain triglycerides in the digestive system straightly go to the liver for energy metabolism.

3. Prevents brain disorder

Before turns into energy, The medium chained triglycerides in liver is metabolized into ketones, which is a type of acid created during the process of changing fat instead of carbohydrate into energy. This kind of metabolism happens when we consume coconut oil which contains medium chained triglycerides. Ketones itself, is very good to give therapy for brain disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer.

Epilepsy is the state when the brain nervous system is not in the normal state. We can notify the episode by the epileptic seizures. On the other hand, Alzheimer is the progressive degradation of thinking, speaking, and remembering ability caused by the brain’s cellular system disorder. Knowing that coconut oil is able to prevent those kinds of disease, we can say that this oil indeed a super food.

4. Helps kill microorganism

A research proved that 50% of fatty acid in this oil is lauric acid. Lauric acid is a type of acid which is able to produce monolaurin during the digestion. The monolaurin is powerful to kill microorganism such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria. In the other words, this oil is able to protect us from any kind of infections and boost the immune system.

5. Increases good cholesterol

As we know, this oil contains what so called healthy fats. The ability of this type of oil to increase the HDL cholesterol or the good cholesterol while decreasing the LDL or bad cholesterol level is the proof. It will also help in improving he blood clotting process. The amount of HDL will also bring a good effect for heart health. the other food which is good for cholesterol is attached in  Foods That Lower Cholesterol Level in 5 Minutes

6. Promotes weight loss

Compared to the long chained triglycerides, the medium chained triglycerides in coconut oil shows good performance in promoting weight loss. A study showed that the long term usage in the recommended intake, about 15 – 30 grams of medium chained triglycerides are able to increase the calorie burning into energy up to 5% per day.

It is very good to reduce abdominal obesity especially for women. health benefits of coconut oil in coffee is also able to effectively lose weight.

7. Fights free radicals

Besides the benefits from the fats, coconut oil also offers the benefits from its vitamins. The vitamins in this oil are able to perform a good antioxidant property to fight free radicals. Therefore, it is very good to prevent the symptom of aging such as dull, freckled and wrinkled skin. It is also able to keep the moisturized skin.

In addition to the use of coconut oil for cooking, we can also directly apply the oil onto skin to gain the benefit from the oil. for direct application, here are benefits of coconut oil for skin. Besides the benefits for skin, the antioxidant in this oil is also able to reduce the risk of certain cancers.

8. Substitutes dairy material

When come into the cooking, we can use this type of oil to cook in many ways. We can use it for deep fry, stir fry, and baking. As the ingredient during the baking process, coconut oil can substitute the use of butter and shortening.

In the other words, we can say that coconut oil able to minimize the use of dairy product. It is very beneficial for those with dairy product intolerance. Therefore, we can substitute our regular usage of butter in bakery, popcorn, roasted corn and etc.

The Other Health Benefits of Using Coconut Oil for Cooking

1. Dissolved kidney stones
2. Reduces inflammation
3. Improves digestion
4. Maintains healthy mouth
5. Prevents osteoporosis
6. Treat diabetes type II
7. Builds muscle

Recommended usage of coconut oil for cooking

We can gain the health Benefits of Using Coconut Oil for Cooking using this tropical fruit oil for cooking as long as we use it in recommended intake. Although we can use it for our cooking, we cannot completely replace the oils on your shelf with this oil. We still need to limit the use.

An author of Super food RX Diets recommends the use of no more than 2 tablespoons of coconut oil per day. in addition, to cook the healthy food, we should not only  pay attention to the intake, but also our cooking ware. The coconut oil can get along with most cooking wares, especially stainless.