Coconut fat found in coconut butter – makes you slim and healthy
For many years we have been told that we should avoid saturated fats, but now the trend to reverse. New research suggests that it is precisely the saturated fatty acids that may be the key to health and healthy lifestyles. Coconut fat is a vegetable source of saturated fatty acids, and an American study (Portillio and others, 1998) showed that a diet containing coconut oil effectively reduced the white fat depots. A number of studies have shown that coconut oil has many positive attributes:
normalizes body fats
strengthens the immune system and the anti-inflammatory ability prevents bacterial, viral and fungal infections
balances the insulin secretion
Protects the liver from damage by alcohol
Polyunsaturated or Saturated? Studies have shown that the reduction of harmful cholesterol in the blood obtained after consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids is due to cholesterol “driven” into the liver tissue and blood vessels. And this seems to not occur with the use of coconut oil, which is supported by a large Finnish study (Pietienen and others, 1997) where you could not find any relationship between intake of saturated fatty acids and risk of death from cardiovascular diseases.
Researchers in India have been in excess of this found (SIRC & Kansra, 1998) to disease and type 2 diabetes has increased as the Indians have replaced their traditional saturated cooking fats (coconut oil, ghee (clarified butter), mustard oil) in refined and hydrogenated, ie hydrogenated *, vegetable fats, which launched as health and good for the heart and blood vessels. These researchers believe that it is time to return to traditional cooking fats such as coconut oil. Although Professor Stampfer of Harvard University warns of the use of hydrogenated fats, which are found in most margarines, and believe that we should exclude them entirely from our diet.
Coconut fat positive characteristics make it highly appropriate for different types of functional foods.
Nutritional information for coconut fat/100 grams:
Energy: 3700 kcal kJ/890
Fat: 100 g
Saturated: 92 g
Monounsaturated: 6 g
Polyunsaturated: 2 g
Cholesterol: 0 g
* For the hydrogenation (the admixture of water to a cooking oil to harden), polyunsaturated oils form trans fatty acids, which are considered to contribute to cardiovascular disease. Because of this, the Swedish margarine industry started to replace some of the polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats such as coconut oil. Trans fatty acids found in small amount of butter.