Is Coconut Oil Good For You?

Coconuts may not really be nuts, but they are a whole plant food. People don’t typically eat whole coconuts, though, so let’s break it down:

Coconut oil, widely touted on the internet for its health properties.

Coconut milk, which is now being used to make a variety of nondairy products.

And dried coconut flakes.

Now, none of these should be confused with coconut water, which is the fluid inside coconuts— which, interestingly, is so close in composition to human plasma that in an emergency, you can use coconut water intravenously. You can literally hook up a series of coconuts and drip them right into you. So, if you’re ever on a desert island and just happen to have some IV tubing laying around…

Anyway, coconut oil. Harmful? Harmless? Or, helpful?

In terms of what it does to our cholesterol, it is as harmful as butter.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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• Campbell-Falck D, Thomas T, Falck TM, Tutuo N, Clem K. The intravenous use of coconut water. Am J Emerg Med. 2000 Jan;18(1):108-11.
• Cox C, Sutherland W, Mann J, de Jong S, Chisholm A, Skeaff M. Effects of dietary coconut oil, butter and safflower oil on plasma lipids, lipoproteins and lathosterol levels. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1998 Sep;52(9):650-4.

• butter
• cardiovascular disease
• cholesterol
• coconut milk
• coconut oil
• coconut water
• coconuts
• heart disease
• LDL cholesterol
• medium-chain fatty acids
• processed foods
• saturated fat