pokus o kontext od examine.com
Coconut oil was in the news this weekend. Here are four things to keep in mind before jumping to conclusions:
1) The American Heart Association report was NOT NEW EVIDENCE. It was a review of previous studies on saturated fat, with coconut oil taking up just a small portion of the review. Although they advise against coconut oil due to LDL effects, they also note "Clinical trials that compared direct effects on CVD of coconut oil and other dietary oils have not been reported."
2) Coconut oil could very well be harmful in people eating an unhealthy diet, and neutral or slightly beneficial in those eating a healthy diet. Physiological context matters! Research on certain island populations, who eat a ton of coconut and live to old age without heart disease, was not included in the AHA review.
3) Remember that not all foods with saturated fat have the same impacts, partly because they contain different fatty acids. Coconut oil increases both LDL and HDL, and also contains medium-chain triglycerides. The existing evidence is actually quite mixed on possible cardiovascular impacts, and not at all conclusive that coconut oil is "bad". We need more trials!
4) Coconut oil is not the cure-all it's sometimes made out to be. And cholesterol does matter, but so does arterial inflammation and cholesterol oxidation. In short, coconut oil is neither evil nor a panacea. We dug into the evidence on our coconut oil page below (with 100+ references) and will also update the page shortly. Stay tuned!
