The Coconut Oil Miracle Page 8
All dietary oils, including coconut, are composed of triglycerides. Triglycerides are nothing more than three fatty acids hooked together to a glycerol molecule. When oil is eaten, the triglycerides break apart into diglycerides (two fatty acids joined by a glycerol), monoglycerides (one fatty acid attached to a glycerol), and free fatty acids. It is the monoglycerides and free fatty acids that have the antimicrobial properties. The most active are lauric acid and capric acid and their monoglycerides—monolaurin and monocaprin.
In regard to their antimicrobial properties, the monoglycerides and free fatty acids are active, and the diglycerides and triglycerides are inactive. The antimicrobial properties of coconut oil (which consists of triglycerides), therefore, become active only when ingested or otherwise converted into free fatty acids or monoglycerides.
Coconut and palm kernel oils are by far the richest natural sources of this supernutrient, which makes up about 50 percent of their fat content. Milk fat and butter are a distant second, having about 3 percent. These are the only food sources we have that contain significant amounts of lauric acid. Unlike the tropical oils, all vegetable oils are completely deficient in this and other MCFAs.
Lauric acid was first identified in the fruit and seed of the bay laurel tree, which grows in the Mediterranean region. The healing properties of this oil were recognized in ancient times. In Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, and Morocco the oil was used as a folk medicine to improve digestion, as a salve for bladder and skin diseases, and to provide protection against insect stings. It wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s that scientists began to unlock its healing secrets. Although laurel seeds contain 40 percent lauric acid, coconut and palm kernel oils provide a more abundant source. The medical research on lauric acid and other MCFAs is derived predominantly from the tropical oils.
Because of the many health benefits derived from lauric acid, researchers have recently been experimenting with ways to increase the amount of it available in our foods. They have been working with a variety of plants in an effort to increase their lauric acid content. Recently scientists have genetically engineered a new variety of canola called laurate canola that contains 36 percent lauric acid. In time this new canola may wind up being used in a variety of foods.
Lipid-Coated Microorganisms Killed by Lauric Acid
LIPID-COATED VIRUSES
LIPID-COATED BACTERIA
HIV
Leukemia virus
Measles virus
Helicobacter pylori
Herpes simplex virus
Hemophilus influenzae
Herpes viridae
Chlamydia pneumoniae
Sarcoma virus
Staphylococcus aureus
Syncytial virus
Streptococcus agalactiae
Human lymphotropic virus (Type 1)
Groups A, B, F, and G streptococci
Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)
Gram-positive organisms
Visna virus
Gram-negative organisms (if pretreated with chelator)
Cytomegalovirus
Epstein-Barr virus
Influenza virus
Leukemia virus
Pneumonovirus
Hepatitis C virus
The research demonstrating the many health benefits of the medium-chain fatty acids and their monoglycerides has been so compelling that companies are now marketing dietary supplements containing these products. Sold under many different brand names, Lauricidin® is a monolaurin supplement currently available from some health food stores and health care professionals. Dozens of health care clinics in the United States are actively using these supplements to treat patients and are achieving extraordinary success. For example, HIV-infected individuals using these supplements under clinical supervision have reported significant improvement in health. Most monolaurin supplements come in 300-milligram capsules.
Dietary supplements and genetically engineered vegetable oils are two ways in which the food and health industry is trying to increase our exposure to lauric acid. By far the best and richest natural sources of lauric acid are coconuts and coconut oil. For instance, 1 tablespoon of dried shredded coconut contains about 2 grams of lauric acid. A tablespoon of pure coconut oil contains 7 grams. Besides lauric acid, coconut products also contain other MCFAs, such as capric acid (7 percent) and caprylic acid (8 percent), both of which also have many beneficial effects on health that may be lacking in noncoconut sources.
This is an exciting area of research because it involves a readily available food source that can be used to both treat and prevent infectious illness. Wouldn’t it be more pleasant to eat your favorite foods cooked in coconut oil to fight an infection rather than choke down a handful of antibiotics and suffer with their side effects? Eating a pizza made with coconut oil or a pudding made of coconut milk sounds a lot more appetizing than swallowing a bunch of nasty-tasting pills. Such a scenario may be possible. Researchers are currently working on formulations derived from the MCFAs in coconut oil to produce concentrated antimicrobial dietary supplements and pharmaceuticals.
HEALING APPLICATIONS
The potential uses of coconut oil for treating and preventing a wide assortment of infections is truly astounding, ranging from the flu to life-threatening conditions such as AIDS. Treating individuals infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, by feeding them MCFAs has recently shown great promise, and research is now underway in this area. Eating coconut oil may be a simple solution to many illnesses we face today. Laboratory tests have shown that the MCFAs found in coconut oil are effective in destroying viruses that cause influenza, measles, herpes, mononucleosis, hepatitis C, and AIDS; bacteria that can cause stomach ulcers, throat infections, pneumonia, sinusitis, earache, rheumatic fever, dental cavities, food poisoning, urinary tract infections, meningitis, gonorrhea, and toxic shock syndrome; fungi and yeast that lead to ringworm, candida, and thrush; and parasites that can cause intestinal infections such as giardiasis.
The marvelous thing about using coconut oil to treat or prevent these conditions is that while it is deadly to disease-causing microorganisms, it is harmless to humans. The fatty acids that make coconut oil so effective against germs are the same ones nature has put into mother’s milk to protect children. Human breast milk and the milk of other mammals all contain small amounts of MCFAs. This is why butter, which is concentrated milk fat, also contains MCFA. Milk with its medium-chain fatty acids protects the newborn baby from harmful germs at its most vulnerable time in life while its immune system is still developing. This is one of the reasons why coconut oil or MCFAs are added to infant formula. A mother who consumes coconut oil will have more MCFAs in her milk to help protect and nourish her baby. If it’s safe enough for a newborn baby, it is safe enough for us. Nature made MCFAs to nourish and protect us against infectious illnesses.
Medical researchers develop marvelous synthetic drugs to fight infections, but all of them are accompanied by undesirable side effects. Some are highly toxic. Coconut oil is nature’s own antimicrobial weapon and, as a food that has withstood the test of time, is totally safe. While drugs may be necessary to treat certain illnesses, if you regularly eat coconut oil your chances of being infected with those illnesses should be greatly reduced.
Unlike most flu viruses, the virus that causes the common cold (rhinovirus) does not have a lipid coat and therefore is not vulnerable to the action of MCFAs. Cold and flu symptoms are often very similar, and it is difficult to tell which infection is present. In either case, however, coconut oil may be beneficial. Infections of any type depress the immune system, often allowing other germs to multiply, compounding the problem. If the infection is caused by a cold, the MCFAs will help kill these other troublesome microorganisms, thus relieving stress on the immune system and allowing it to more effectively fight the cold virus.
As research continues, coconut oil may prove to be one of the best internal antimicrobial substances available without a doctor’s prescription. Simply adding c
oconut oil to your daily diet may provide you with substantial protection from a wide range of infectious illnesses. If you feel you are coming down with the flu, eating dried coconut or foods prepared with coconut oil may help you fight off the infection. If you have children, it may be the way to protect them against many childhood illness such as earaches and measles. Along with good dental hygiene, it might help to protect young teeth from developing cavities and periodontal disease. Eating something as ordinary as a pizza made with coconut oil may be one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself and your children.
BACTERIA
Until the discovery of antibiotics, medical science had little at its disposal to fight bacterial infections; all doctors could really do was make the patient as comfortable as possible while the body battled the disease. Drugs have now become the standard weapon against disease-causing bacteria, but there are some natural products—foods and herbs—that also exhibit antibiotic properties and that have been used for generations with some degree of success. One of these is coconut oil.
Table 3.1. Bacteria Killed by Medium-Chain Fatty Acids
BACTERIUM
DISEASES CAUSED
Streptococcus
Throat infections, pneumonia, sinusitis, earache, rheumatic fever, dental cavities
Staphylococcus
Staph infection, food poisoning, urinary tract infections, toxic shock syndrome
Neisseria
Meningitis, gonorrhea, pelvic inflammatory disease
Chlamydia
Genital infections, lymphogranuloma venereum, conjunctivitis, parrot fever pneumonia, periodontitis
Helicobacter pyloris
Stomach ulcers
Gram-positive organisms
Anthrax, gastroenteritis, botulism, tetanus
The fatty acids found in coconut are powerful antibiotics. They are known to kill bacteria that can cause numerous illnesses. Table 3.1 lists some of the bacteria that MCFAs are effective against and the common diseases these organisms cause.
The standard treatment for all these bacterial infections is to use antibiotics, and this may be necessary in life-threatening situations. It is conceivable that instead of taking a drug for every single infection, we could simply eat foods that will kill these organisms. Onions, garlic, and echinacea are edible plants that are commonly used for this purpose already. Coconut appears to be another food that can serve this purpose, perhaps far better than any of the other natural antibiotics.
Take a look at stomach ulcers, for example. A recent analysis estimated that 90 percent of all stomach ulcers are caused by the H. pyloris bacterium and not excess acid, as was once believed. And MCFAs kill H. pyloris. In order to treat stomach ulcers there may come a time when your doctor will simply recommend eating more foods cooked in coconut oil. Using the oil regularly may even prevent the infection altogether. This may also be true for ear infections, pneumonia, food poisoning, and a host of other infectious illnesses. This is an exciting possibility that needs to be investigated more thoroughly. You don’t need to wait 5 or 10 years, however, for the research to be completed before you can benefit from using coconut oil; because it’s safe to use, you can add it to your diet now without fear.
One of the drawbacks to using antibiotics is that they generally kill a variety of bacteria both good and bad. Our intestines are the home to many “friendly” bacteria that cause no harm and are, in fact, necessary for good health. These friendly bacteria help digest nutrients, synthesize important vitamins (such as vitamin K) that are essential for our well-being, and compete for space with pathogenic or disease-causing bacteria and yeasts. A healthy human will have abundant intestinal bacteria, which prevent disease-causing troublemakers such as candida. Candida is a single-celled fungus or yeast cell that typically inhabits the intestinal tract. As long as good bacteria outnumber the candida and keep it under control, this yeast poses little threat.
When people take antibiotics, these good bacteria are often killed along with the disease-causing ones. This leaves yeast, such as candida, which is not affected by antibiotics, to grow unrestrained, proliferating and overrunning the intestinal tract. The consequence is a yeast over-growth or infection. Such infections can last for years, causing a wide variety of symptoms ranging from headaches to digestive problems. Often people have systemic candida infections without even knowing it. This is why antifungal medications or probiotics should be taken whenever antibiotics are used. A probiotic supports the growth of friendly bacteria but not the disease-causing kind.
YEAST AND FUNGI
Norma Galante, a Boston college student, went to her local medical clinic complaining of vaginal itching and a slight discharge. The physician took a culture of the discharge and examined it under the microscope. He diagnosed a mild bacterial infection and prescribed an antibiotic.
When Norma took the medication, however, it only made the symptoms worse. She went back to the doctor, and he gave her another antibiotic. It didn’t work either. She tried again, and again, but he couldn’t find a medication that would help. “I kept going back to the clinic, and the doctors kept prescribing different antibiotics,” Norma says. Out of frustration, the physicians finally prescribed a topical anticandida cream to see if that would be of any help. While candida is not affected by antibiotics, it can be treated topically with antifungal creams and suppositories. Her symptoms subsided. She felt relieved. At last, she thought, her problem was solved.
Yeast infections are persistent and often recur, as was the case with Norma. It wasn’t long before she had another infection. The medications she used seemed to relieve the symptoms, but within a few months they would flare up again. Before long she began to develop other fungal infections like athlete’s foot and skin rashes (ringworm). Fungal infections of one sort or another became an ongoing nuisance. She felt chronically fatigued. Everything she did seemed to tire her. She became depressed. “The doctors didn’t have any answers,” she recalls. “To them I had a minor problem, but I was living with the itching and the fatigue every day; it wasn’t a minor problem for me.”
After receiving little help from her doctors, she began searching for an answer herself. She scoured health food stores for books and information on yeast infections. After studying these materials she realized she was suffering from a systemic or entire body candida infection. She cut sugar out of her diet and began taking a dietary supplement derived from coconut oil called caprylic acid. It worked! Both the vaginal yeast and skin infections healed. Without the constant strain of fighting the infection, her energy returned. She was able to function normally again without feeling constantly fatigued. “I was so relieved to find something that brought my energy back,” she says.
One of the most widespread health problems in Western society is caused by the fungus Candida albacans. Many women are familiar with this troublesome pest because it is a common cause of vaginal yeast infections. It is also the same organism that causes oral thrush and diaper rash in babies. Candida is a single-celled fungus or yeast cell that inhabits the intestinal tract and mucous membranes of every living person on the earth. Within days after birth, newborns are infected and have a budding colony living in their digestive tract. Normally, competition from friendly bacteria and the cleansing action of our immune system keeps candida numbers low and prevents them from causing any adverse health problems. But when the immune system is compromised or when friendly bacteria in our gut are killed by taking antibiotics, a candida infection can quickly flare up. A single course of antibiotics can lead to a raging candida infection. Approximately 75 percent of women experience vaginal yeast infections at one time or another.
Vaginal yeast infections are typically treated as if they were only localized in one area of the body. Many people, however, have systemic infections in which candida grows out of control overrunning the digestive tract and affecting the entire body, including the reproductive system. Systemic yeast infections, called candidiasis (or yeast syndrome), affect the entire bod
y and can afflict men as well as women. Symptoms are numerous and varied (see table 3.2), and even doctors have difficulty identifying the problem.
Because it is not easy to identify, hundreds of thousands of women and men are plagued with candidiasis without even realizing it. Vaginal yeast infections or oral yeast infections (thrush) can be identified by the white discharge they produce. Recurring vaginal yeast infections are one of the signs of a systemic infection. But you can have candidiasis without an active vaginal yeast infection. Anyone who has taken antibiotics, birth control pills, steroids, or immunosuppressive drugs is at high risk of having a systemic yeast infection, even if no noticeable symptoms are evident. Typical symptoms also include fatigue, depression, allergy symptoms, and recurring fungal skin infections (athlete’s foot, jock itch, ringworm, etc.).
Table 3.2. Problems Commonly Associated with Systemic Candida Infections
General
Fatigue, headache, digestive problems, joint pains, depression, memory loss, irritability, allergies
Women
Persistent vaginitis, menstrual irregularities, recurrent bladder problems
Men
Persistent or recurrent jock itch or athlete’s foot, prostatitis, impotence
Children
Ear infections, hyperactivity, behavior and learning problems
Source: W. Crook, The Yeast Connection (1986)