Not all saturated fats are bad

Not all saturated fats are bad. For example, coconut oil is highly saturated. It contains as much as 92 percent saturated fat. But this saturation makes coconut oil being healthy for us.

 

Coconut oil contains three medium-chain fatty acids—lauric acid, caprylic acid and capric acid—in a combination that’s beneficial to human health.

 

Bruce Fife, author of The Coconut Oil Miracle, says that “because saturated fats have no double-carbon bonds—the weak links that are easily broken to form free radicals—they are much more stable under a variety of conditions”.

 

Alternately, exposure to heat, light or oxygen can damage polyunsaturated oils. Non-saturated oils, like olive oil, that have been oxidized, can oxidize the food we add these oils to. The resulting free radicals have been linked to numerous health ills.

 

The reason coconut oil is superior to other saturated fats, he explains, is that its medium-chain structure does not raise blood cholesterol levels, or promote “blood stickiness” that can lead to blood clots.

 

Cardiovascular benefits are just one of coconut oil’s health properties. “When coconut oil is eaten, the body transforms its unique fatty acids into powerful antimicrobial powerhouses capable of defeating some of the most notorious disease-causing microorganisms,” says Fife.

 

“The unique properties of coconut oil make it, in essence, a natural antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiprotozoal food”