What evidence is there to suggest that oil pulling can effectively treat serious diseases such as paralysis, meningitis, cancer, and AIDS?
I’ve made videos on how safe coconut oil is put on your hair or put on your skin, but you definitely don’t want to eat it. In fact, you might not even want to His in the same kitchen when coconut oil is heated. I don’t know how people got the idea that it is safe to cook with. Coconut oil has one of the lowest smoke points. At typical frying temperatures, it can release a multitude of toxic compounds and “emissions below the smoke point … can be harmful”, so you should ensure good ventilation.
Not inject it in your privacy and even Stand under a coconut tree is not entirely harmless. But what about buzz Coconut oil around in your mouth? Obviously, the so-called “oil pulling … a time-honored … folk remedy in which cooking oil is rinsed into the mouth” – that is, “pulling it back and forth” between the teeth in order to allegedly achieve “oral and systemic health benefits”. you put Put a spoonful of oil in your mouth and swirl it around for up to 20 minutes. If that is too long, you can only “draw” 5 or 10 minutes. Then spit it out, rinse your mouth and brush your teeth.
I could see how oil pulling, for example, could remove plaque and have some oral health benefits, however systemic Effects? As I discuss in my video Helps oil pulling in cancer, not only is it is said to be “completely harmless”, but apparently “this simple method enables the most diverse diseases to be treated effectively, sometimes avoiding surgical interventions and the use of medication with harmful side effects”. I was excited to read a quote on an oil pulling review until I realized the source was www.oilpulling.com, an e-book that obviously gives answers to questions like “oil for oil pulling” [sic], Oil Pulling and Healed Diseases, and the Science Behind Oil Pulling Therapy [sic] and much more.”
The moral of the story? Always check your sources.
A source quoted however, from proponents of oil exploration seems legitimate. It was in. released British Dental Journalbut it is just a letter from someone who says that the literature reports that oil pulling “can effectively treat various disorders like … paralysis … meningitis … and chronic diseases like cancer, AIDS, etc.”. However, absolutely no references are given. So this literature he is talking about is probably fairy tale literature. The bottom line is that it is is simply no scientific evidence for these claims.
What about the oral health claims? If you look at the list of purported benefits, from blood clots to stopping malignant tumors from growing, and look at the quotes supposedly backing up such wild claims, you probably won’t be surprised that they absolutely don’t care about blood clots, Cancer or any of those other diseases. Instead, they refer to dental health studies. Well, let’s not spit the baby out with the bath water. Let’s see what they say.
The course begins like this: Add to Oil pulling to some people’s regular oral hygiene programs, then step back and watch the gingivitis improve week by week as the amount of plaque decreases like you did at 3:21 in my. can see Video. Sunflower oil was used in this study. The discovery, the knowledge, the find? “Conclusion: oil pulling is to have dental services. ”The same was found with coconut oil as you can see in mine at 3:35 Video. Gingivitis and gingivitis started Get better within a week as the plaque decreased. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Therefore, the researchers came to a similar conclusion: “Oil pulling … could be an effective supportive method in reducing plaque buildup and plaque-induced gingivitis,” a useful addition to oral hygiene.
Does anyone know what’s wrong with these studies? There was no control group.
Why do I keep talking about the need for control groups? Weren’t the studies your own control? Think about it: we know where the subjects were at the beginning, and then week after week we saw their plaque and gingivitis getting better and better. Should we imagine that it is just a great coincidence that all of the subjects only got better after starting the coconut oil?
let me say You about a phenomenon called the Hawthorne Effect. “Patients often seem to improve just by the effects of being enrolled in a clinical trial.” Why? Because “with the special attention or frequent examinations that often result from participation in studies, patients can improve oral hygiene.” In fact, the Hawthorne effect is the reason why it is so important to conduct controlled studies.
This happens to the best of us. Do you know how to brush particularly thoroughly on the morning of a dentist’s appointment? Imagine going to the dentist for a check-up every week for a month to check your plaque and gingivitis. Don’t you think you’d brush a little more and floss a little bit more? The upward trend in oral hygiene alone could give you the kind of results seen in these studies. The only way to tell if the oil pulling contributed anything to the improvements is to have a control group who didn’t do the oil pulling but also knew they would do weekly dental checkups. Unfortunately, there were no compilations of controlled studies … until Study I Home page in my video Benefits of oil pulling for plaque and gingivitis.
THE CENTRAL THESES
- Coconut oil can be safe to use on your hair or skin, but I don’t recommend consuming it or being around while heating, as it can release toxic compounds and emissions can be harmful at typical frying temperatures.
- Oil pulling – swirling cooking oil and pulling it between your teeth – is a folk remedy, but there is no scientific evidence that it is effective for cancer, paralysis, meningitis, blood clots, AIDS, or any other chronic disease.
- When oil pulling is added to regular oral hygiene, the amount of plaque appears to decrease and gingivitis and gingivitis may improve, but such studies have been conducted without a control group, so the results remain unfounded.
- The Hawthorne Effect, where subjects seem to gain benefits simply because of their participation in a clinical trial, may play a role. For example, due to the increased controls or more frequent exams as a result of the study, participants may improve their oral hygiene practices, and that increase itself could be the cause of perceived improvements.
This article covers the first video in a four-part series on oil pulling. For the rest of the series see:
I got involved with oil pulling because people kept asking me about it. What other health issues, nutritional or not, should I take on?
Why did I say not to swallow coconut oil? See:
What can you do about cancer? cash register How not to die of cancer, my overview video.
In health,
Michael Greger, MD
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