Difference between MCT oil and Coconut Oil?

christineellis · September 2013

I know they are supposed to have the same benefits (medium chain tryglycerides), but can anyone explain the pros/cons of one over the other? There must be some difference with one being liquid and the other solid.

Thanks!

Dragonwolf · September 2013

Coconut oil isn't entirely MCT. There are some other fatty acids in it that allow it to be solid at temperatures below about 70F.

MCT oil is typically refined to only have MCTs in it. MCTs are liquid by nature.

christineellis · September 2013

Coconut oil isn't entirely MCT. There are some other fatty acids in it that allow it to be solid at temperatures below about 70F.

MCT oil is typically refined to only have MCTs in it. MCTs are liquid by nature.

So, is coconut oil better since it is less refined?

Dragonwolf · September 2013

Coconut oil isn't entirely MCT. There are some other fatty acids in it that allow it to be solid at temperatures below about 70F.

MCT oil is typically refined to only have MCTs in it. MCTs are liquid by nature.

So, is coconut oil better since it is less refined?

In the sense that it's a whole food, yes. A high-quality MCT oil isn't "bad," per se, though. It's more like clarified butter, where the "impurities" (in the case of MCT oil, the non-MCTs) are taken out.

Mark Sisson has some notes about it on his blog (just google "Mark Sisson MCT") and found that he prefers coconut oil to pure MCT oil, because the MCT oil made him jittery (which makes sense, because MCTs are jet fuel to our bodies, and the non MCTs in coconut oil temper the release of the MCTs into the body).

Akimajuktuq · September 2013

I've tried both. Yes, I prefer coconut oil. Anything that we might have consumed in nature is better than something refined to be only MCT in my opinion.