So here's the thing I don't get about oil..

heather3879

So there are mixed reviews, but based on these articles from medical and scientific journals (along with other evidence I've reviewed), I won't be adding coconut oil to my diet anytime soon. At least not until there are more definitive scientific claims regarding the benefits and evidence to refute what I have found. These are from the National Institutes of Health. (And yes, I realize these are only abstracts, but I did not expect most people to want to read enire journal articles.)

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10948851
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8743559
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9310182
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21396159
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20687968 (this one is about the carcinogenic effect of reheating coconut oil)

Enjoy researching!

Rilke

So there are mixed reviews, but based on these articles from medical and scientific journals (along with other evidence I've reviewed), I won't be adding coconut oil to my diet anytime soon. At least not until there are more definitive scientific claims regarding the benefits and evidence to refute what I have found. These are from the National Institutes of Health. (And yes, I realize these are only abstracts, but I did not expect most people to want to read enire journal articles.)

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10948851
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8743559
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9310182
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21396159
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20687968 (this one is about the carcinogenic effect of reheating coconut oil)

Enjoy researching!

To each his own. I don't put much stock in any website about food that ends in .gov :P

FaithsVegWorkout

Coming from someone who only bakes vegan, I gotta say, if I'm gonna eat cake, cookies, brownies, whatever, it damn well better be rich and fattening and excessive and make me feel like I'm gonna puke and give me a major sugar crash when I'm done!!!

heather3879

To each his own. I don't put much stock in any website about food that ends in .gov :P
[/quote]

To clarify...they are posted on the NIH website but are from a variety of scholarly journals. You can find the journal name at the top of each article.

End6ame

So there are mixed reviews, but based on these articles from medical and scientific journals (along with other evidence I've reviewed), I won't be adding coconut oil to my diet anytime soon. At least not until there are more definitive scientific claims regarding the benefits and evidence to refute what I have found. These are from the National Institutes of Health. (And yes, I realize these are only abstracts, but I did not expect most people to want to read enire journal articles.)

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10948851
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8743559
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9310182
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21396159
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20687968 (this one is about the carcinogenic effect of reheating coconut oil)

Enjoy researching!

All of the following topics are interrelated so I figured I’d list them all. All of them also have references listed at the end. Happy researching to all! :-)

Research specific to coconut oil.
http://coconutoil.com/research.htm

Research specific to saturated fats.
http://coconutoil.com/saturated_fats.htm

Research specific to cholesterol.
http://coconutoil.com/cholesterol.htm

Research on PUSFAs
http://coconutoil.com/unsaturated.htm

Rilke

To each his own. I don't put much stock in any website about food that ends in .gov :P

To clarify...they are posted on the NIH website but are from a variety of scholarly journals. You can find the journal name at the top of each article.

Yup. Here's the thing though -- most studies done with coconut oil use partially hydrogenated coconut oil. Any partially hydrogenated oil is bad -- even for rats and chickens, which were used in your studies.

Virgin coconut oil is an entirely different food. It is eaten in abundance by island (and other) populations and they are healthy as horses.

Here is a page (not from people trying to sell something) discussing coconut oil studies done on *people* and some other facts:
http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseaction/show/pageid/1121

mfpchris

It is really interesting the 1980s and later "Fat" hysteria. Personal preference 100% Okay, do what every you want.

But what is *good* for you and what is *bad* for you are really challenging questions which I don't
believe I, or anyone else on this thread, has completely answered. One exampe that cracks
me up (laughing at myself here)

This is 1985 in complete reverse.

As noted, there is growing evidences that canola/rapeseed oil is *bad* for us.

There is evidence that if you have an open pasture, grass fed organic cow and render
it, the lard is *good* for you.

True enough. 1985 is yelling and screaming, but 2011 is more apt to hold its tongue.

Saturated Fats, Mono, Polyun, etc. Omega 3s, and maybe even more important is
Omega 3/Omega 6 ratios.

There is the whole "transformation" occurring with heat. Freshness and oils instability, etc.

I believe, at a very gross high-level way, that the Twinkie Diet works.

Imagine a prisoner who eat only what is provided and nothing. "Maintenance calories - 100 cals" and you, or the prisioner, or me and everyone will lose weight.

That is very very important. As "overweight" might be the single most unhealthy component of our lives. But certainly not being overweight AND eating foods that are *good* for us is even better.

It is all sort of funny in a way. Good luck! Don't stress about your food preferences
as the stress is probably worse for you then whatever it is your trying to avoid.

End6ame

It is really interesting the 1980s and later "Fat" hysteria. Personal preference 100% Okay, do what every you want.

But what is *good* for you and what is *bad* for you are really challenging questions which I don't
believe I, or anyone else on this thread, has completely answered. One exampe that cracks
me up (laughing at myself here)

This is 1985 in complete reverse.

As noted, there is growing evidences that canola/rapeseed oil is *bad* for us.

There is evidence that if you have an open pasture, grass fed organic cow and render
it, the lard is *good* for you.

True enough. 1985 is yelling and screaming, but 2011 is more apt to hold its tongue.

Saturated Fats, Mono, Polyun, etc. Omega 3s, and maybe even more important is
Omega 3/Omega 6 ratios.

There is the whole "transformation" occurring with heat. Freshness and oils instability, etc.

I believe, at a very gross high-level way, that the Twinkie Diet works.

Imagine a prisoner who eat only what is provided and nothing. "Maintenance calories - 100 cals" and you, or the prisioner, or me and everyone will lose weight.

That is very very important. As "overweight" might be the single most unhealthy component of our lives. But certainly not being overweight AND eating foods that are *good* for us is even better.

It is all sort of funny in a way. Good luck! Don't stress about your food preferences
as the stress is probably worse for you then whatever it is your trying to avoid.

This is life. What we “know” today will be wrong tomorrow. But hey, we can still argue, debate, pass along irrelevant advice, name call, and get mad today, so that we can change our minds tomorrow and start the process all over again.

Gary1977

Yes, I appreciate oils, but you have to use the good ones! Olive oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, grapeseed...these are some of the good ones. (Coconut oil is actually very high in saturated fat and is what fast food restaurants use to cook their fries.) The thing to understand is that healthy oils are high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which actually clear cholesterol from your arteries and improve your brain health. So while I can understand wanting to decrease your total fat intake and definitely your saturated fat intake, you NEED healthy oils!

I just wanted to point out to you that harldy any fast food restaurants use coconut oil to cook it. The main reason being that it costs MUCH more than what they're buying. I've been a manager in fast food a great deal of my adult working life (probably part of the reason I'm so fat) and know from experience that most do not use this. Also, the fat is coconut oil is a very healthy fat. As another poster pointed out, coconut & evoo are some of the best oils one can consume.

Lunachic77

Here's my dilemma...

I don't mind using oil in small amounts to cook with. Typically, I'll use a tbsp of EVOO to cook with. Where I get iffy is when I make salads and salad dressings. One of the homemade recipes I have calls for 3 tbsp. olive oil and 4 tbsp. water then you toss the whole salad in it. Sometimes I will eat a whole salad for dinner...that means I'm eating 42g of fat which puts me over on my allotted fat total for the day. Is this okay to do? What is the limit to how much oil you can eat per day?

perceptualobfuscator

Just wanted to post and say thanks to everyone for going out of their way to provide so much information and research!! This thread has provided very interesting reading.

About getting enough omega-3 being more important than omega-3 to omega-6 ratios, I'm a lactose intolerant vegetarian who eats practically vegan. I'd like to add to the discussion that the rules on omega-3 and omega-6 aren't quite the same for those on a vegan diet, because the foods we eat provide us with very different amounts of each in our diet than that of a true omnivore. Just throwing it out there.

Now I've got some reading to do!!