The effects of coconut oil were compared to butter and sebum. Even if virgin coconut oil and other saturated fats increase “bad” LDL cholesterol, isn’t that counteracted by increasing “good” HDL cholesterol?
According to “the experience and wisdom of 200 of the country’s leading experts on cardiovascular disease” in a report Represent 29 national medical organizations, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, have known for nearly half a century that “Coconut oil is one of the most effective ways to increase [blood] Serum cholesterol levels. “As I discuss in my video Coconut oil and the boost in HDL “good” cholesterol, Studies demonstrate Coconut oil increases cholesterol from 1955 when it was first shown experimentally that switching from coconut oil to soybean oil could lower cholesterol from around 200 to 150, as you can see in my report at 12:39 a.m. Video.
Coconut oil can be great raising Cholesterol levels within hours of consumption. In fact, a significant increase in blood cholesterol was noted within hours of consuming a piece of cake made from either coconut oil (or cod liver oil) but not the same cake made from flaxseed oil.
As you can see in mine at 1:10 Video, Coconut oil can even worse than suet or beef fat, but it is not as bad as butter. An interventional attempt was made released March 2017: a month-long randomized, controlled, crossover study examining the effects of two tablespoons of coconut oil per day. The result? Coconut oil increased cholesterol levels by about 14 percent versus controls, which was in line with seven other interventional studies released until today in a review of 2016.
Please wait. Saturated fats can cause HDL, called good cholesterol, to rise. So what’s the problem? The problem is that it doesn’t seem to be help. A high level of HDL in the blood is “no longer seen as protective”. What? Wait a minute. Higher HDL levels are clearly linked to lower risk of heart disease as you can see at 2:01 in mine Video. Indeed, HDL levels “are among the most consistent and robust predictors for CVD [cardiovascular disease] Risk. “Ah, but there are two kinds of risk factors: causal and non-causal. Association doesn’t mean causality – that is, just because two things are closely related doesn’t mean one causes the other.
Let me give you an example that you can see in my video at 2:30 am. I’ll bet the number of ashtrays someone has is an excellent predictor of lung cancer risk, and study after study would show that relationship. However, this does not mean that if you step in and reduce the number of ashtrays, your risk of lung cancer will decrease because it is not the ashtrays that cause the cancer, it is smoking. The ashtrays are just a marker of smoking, an indicator of smoking, as opposed to a causal role in the disease. Just as a high number of running shoes and gym shorts predict a lower risk of a heart attack, a high HDL also predicts a lower risk of a heart attack. An increase in the HDL value and an increase in the number of gym shorts would not necessarily affect the risk of illness. How do you differentiate between causal and non-causal risk factors? You put them to the test. The reason we knows LDL cholesterol is really bad because people who were just born with genetically low LDL cholesterol are at low risk of heart disease. And if you intervene and actively lower people’s LDL levels through diet or medication, the risk of heart disease decreases – but not with HDL.
People who have lived high levels of HDL their entire lives don’t do this appear have a lower risk of a heart attack, and if you do give People take a drug that increases their HDL, it doesn’t help. That’s why we gave people high-dose niacin – to increase their HDL. But it’s time too face Facts. “The” lack of benefit from an HDL cholesterol increase from niacin use … seriously undermine[s] hypothesized that HDL cholesterol is a causal risk factor. “In simple terms:“ High HDL can’t protect the heart. “We should focus when lowering LDL. With coconut oil in particular, the increase in HDL is “of uncertain clinical relevance”, but the increase in LDL obtained from consuming coconut oil “is likely to have an adverse effect on the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease”.
But what about the MCTs that mEdium chain triglycerides? Coconut oil proponents who complain “that coconut oil causes heart disease” created this poor image of [their] national exports ” claim that the medium-chain triglycerides, the shorter saturated fats in coconut oil, aren’t as bad as the longer-chain saturated fats in meat and dairy products. And what about this study? allegedly showing low Pacific rates from Heart Islands among Pacific islanders who ate large quantities of coconuts? I cover both topics in my video What about coconuts, coconut milk, and coconut oil MCTs?.
I love topics that give me an excuse to talk about science concepts more generally, like different study designs in my video Prostate cancer and organic milk against almond milk or my discussion of direct and indirect risk factors in this case.
How do we know LDL is bad? Check How do we know that cholesterol causes heart disease?.
But wait. Isn’t that the whole fat bunk? Not see:
In health,
Michael Greger, MD
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