SANCHITA SHARMA

Coconut oil is “pure poison”, warned Harvard professor Karin Michels in her talk on nutritional errors at the University of Freiburg in Germany, sparking off a heated debate on whether it should be consumed at all.

Coconut oil is packed with artery-clogging saturated fat, which raises the risk of heart attack and stroke by raising total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and lowering heart-protecting HDL (good) cholesterol that stimulates the removal of cholesterol from cells to the liver, from where it is secreted in bile and excreted by the body.

There is 82 gm saturated fat in 100 gm of coconut oil, compared to 62 gm in 100 gm of butter and 39 gm in lard (animal fat). In comparison, healthier oils such as mustard have 12 gm of saturated fat, Canola has 7 gm, sunflower 12 gm, and safflower (kardi) as 8 gm.

Even the nutritionally shunned red meats have less fat saturated fat. There is 9 gm of saturated fat in 100 gm of mutton and 14 gm of saturated fat in 100 gm pan-fried bacon. Of course, you’re more likely to eat 100 gm of mutton than Peanut Soybean Olive oil Sunflower oil Corn oil Mustard oil Sunflower Safflower Canola oil

Butter Palm oil Lard (pork)

Coconut oil Palm kernel oil drink 100 gm of coconut oil, but it’s good to be aware of the vegetable oil’s heart-damaging potential given the erroneous belief that food from plant sources is healthier than dairy and meats.

FOOD FADDISM

Adding coconut oil to weightloss diets became a trendy following a 2010 study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition that said medium chain triglyceride oils such as palm and coconut oils were good for weight management and having 18–24 g/day (1.5 to 2 tablespoons) did not raise risk of heart disease. Fad diets such as Ketogenic diet (very lowcarb) and Paleo or caveman diet (lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds like hunter-gatherer ancestors) mainstreamed the findings by recommending cold-pressed coconut oil for its alleged antiinflammatory weight-loss benefits.

These findings were rejected last year by the American Heart Association, which warned against using coconut oil as it raised LDL (bad) cholesterol levels as much as red meats and animal fat. “A recent systematic review found seven controlled trials that compared coconut oil with

THERE IS 82 GM SATURATED FAT IN 100 GM OF COCONUT OIL, COMPARED TO 62 GM IN 100 GM OF BUTTER AND 39 GM IN LARD