How to Lower Bad Cholesterol with Virgin Coconut Oil
Virgin Coconut Oil Has Surprisingly Super Healthy Saturated Fat
For so many years, people in the West were led to believe that virgin coconut oil was the culprit behind the horribly high cholesterol levels among them.
However, this false information went against studies in tropical countries where virgin coconut oil has been produced and consumed for thousands of years and where people have lower cholesterol than Westerners.
Thus, the propaganda that virgin coconut oil spiked unhealthy cholesterol in humans simply did not hold water.
After much research, scientists learned that virgin coconut oil actually possesses a remarkably healthy kind of saturated fat.
Other kinds of saturated fat, together with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, found in fatty foods play a part in increasing cholesterol produced in liver and spread into the bloodstream. These kinds of saturated fat increase people’s risk of developing coronary heart diseases.
On the other hand, the saturated fat in virgin coconut oil is made up of medium-chain fatty acids that are chock-full in amazing health benefits, making virgin coconut oil the healthiest oil in the world and the best possible natural remedy for various kinds of ailments.
To know how to use virgin coconut oil in your diet, you may read:
Virgin Coconut Oil Lowers Bad Cholesterol with Medium-Chain Fatty Acids
The medium-chain fatty acids in virgin coconut oil lower bad cholesterol in the body because they are primarily made up of lauric acid.
Lauric acid is actually a very nutritious kind of fat that is also found in breast milk of lactating healthy mothers.
Not only does lauric acid lower bad cholesterol significantly, it also fights viruses and bacteria that cause myriad of illnesses and diseases.
Coconut oil is about 50% lauric acid.
It works by increasing good cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol.
How Virgin Coconut Oil Lowers Bad Cholesterol
To know how coconut oil actually affects cholesterol levels, people need to distinguish between good and bad cholesterol.
Good cholesterol is called high-density lipoprotein (HDL) while bad cholesterol – the one that builds up in the walls of arteries and lead to heart diseases and even stroke – is called low-density lipoprotein (LDL).
The difference between HDL and LDL is the actual cholesterol level.
Virgin coconut oil does not contribute to bad cholesterol because of the medium-chain fatty acids’ tiny chemical structures.
Medium-chain fatty acids of virgin coconut oil are easily digested, pass through membranes effortlessly, and go directly to the liver where they are immediately turned into energy.
They are not stored in the body as fat and therefore neither contribute to weight gain nor clog arteries.
The real culprits of LDL include:
- refined vegetable oils that are inflamed inside the body
- sedentary lifestyle
- smoking
- stress
- too much carbohydrates
- too much sugar
- trans-fatty acids from hydrogenated oils
People who are serious about lowering bad cholesterol must stop its causes and take in virgin coconut oil daily.
How to Use Virgin Coconut Oil in Lowering Bad Cholesterol
Dr. Mary Enig MS (Nutritional Sciences), Ph.D, an expert on the functions of oils on the human body, calculated how much virgin coconut oil the body needs to help its self in lowering cholesterol levels.
She said that a diet that is rich in lauric acid should have about 24 grams of lauric acid daily or about 3.5 tablespoons of coconut oil or 10 ounces of pure coconut milk.
Thus, people should take in 3.5 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil every day by ingestion, adding it into cooked foods or fruit-based smoothies, and even applying it on the skin to doubly work as moisturizer.
Virgin coconut oil is manufactured in the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, East India, and other parts of Asia. These countries export the oil to America, Europe and some parts of the world.
People buying coconut oils for health purposes must always make sure that they are buying virgin coconut oil, which uses fresh coconut meat and not copra meat.
The coconut oil is cold-pressed, meaning no chemical structure-altering heat was used during its production.
It is also pure, with no added chemicals.
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