Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) is one of the best natural oils to have in a diet – as long as you get a good brand that is truly natural – one that is organic and ‘cold pressed’ (or ‘expeller pressed’ is a close 2nd with a milder flavor). Stay away from ‘refined’ oils if you can.
Some people intentionally choose a refined coconut oil because they don’t like the coconut flavor, but still want some of the benefits of the coconut oil. It is not as healthy as a Virgin Coconut Oil, but it is still much better than the various ‘vegetable’ oils, canola oil, margarine, crisco, etc. In any case, for optimum health, try to eat unprocessed, unrefined foods.
The photo above was taken from another site with an interesting article. The interesting part to me was that it was viewing both MCT Oil and Coconut oil as a supplement. This is part of the current problem… pushing products over food. VCO is food.
With the rise of VCO people have started to become aware of its many benefits, and in my opinion, businesses are starting to exploit some of those benefits for profit. A key example of this is the ‘Medium Chain Triclycerides’ (MCT) that comprise over 50% of VCO. Now we are seeing companies extracting the MCTs from coconut oil, branding it, promoting it, and selling it as an ‘MCT Oil’ product.
In my opinion, the motivation behind MCT Oil products is profit, not wellness. I was motivated to write this post when I saw a discussion about this on Facebook, and I wanted to share my opinion and some facts with a wider audience.
In my opinion, MCT Oil seems completely unnecessary. There are of course many natural ‘extracts’ and ‘byproducts’ that are useful for medicinal purposes, but MCT oil is not one of them.
While something like curcumin is an extreme exponential multiplier of an active ingredient in turmeric, MCT oil is only a very moderate multiplier of the MCTs already contained within VCO. To be clear, VCO is already more than half MCTs, so ‘MCT Oil’ is only doubling the MCTs in VCO. So why would I displace a proven healthy VCO with a processed MCT Oil? I wouldn’t.
Now, MCT products do alter the ratio of the types of MCTs, providing around 4 times the ‘faster burning’ MCTs; however, is ‘faster’ really a better MCT?? This is subjective, based on the fact that they are looking for that quick hit; that fast burn that you can experience more immediately. But for long-term benefits? No evidence exists that I have seen. VCO is helping people with dementia, Parkinson’s, Altzheimer’s, etc, and it is NOT being displaced by processed MCT Oils.
In addition, like all heavily processed food products, MCT Oils put an unnecessary carbon burden on the planet. It is either a byproduct of an undesirable product, or a wholly unnecessary primary product.
Because the motivation is profit, there will be lots of studies and advertising to promote the benefits, and then decades later, like all other processed products, those studies will be debunked. Stick with VCO for your MCTs.
It might be better to categorize MCT Oil more as a recreational product, like drugs, alcohol, tobacco, performance enhancing drugs, etc., because the primary purpose is to give people a ‘hit’ or a spike. These are the niches where it can be argued that MCT Oil has a niche, especially for sports. But again, is that really necessary?
It looks to me like MCT Oil products are just another fad in the keto craze, which is itself a fad, as ketosis is a completely natural component of a proper (i.e. WAPF) diet. It is good to see ketogenic on the rise, as that is pushing people towards a healthier diet; however, we see the same crazy product abuse and diet perversion in the ketogenic craze… processed products exploiting some morsel of current understanding. Keto and MCTs are natural and great, but need no artificial products or lifestyles. Simply eat a healthy diet, as outlined by the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), and you will get your MCTs and ketones. Note that Dr. Price found healthy diets ranged anywhere from 30% – 80% or more fat. All of those diets will encourage ketosis, but the higher the fat the more ketosis you are likely to experience.
The biggest problem for me with regard to MCT Oil is this: Taking it means that you have displaced a healthier oil that should be in your diet. Just get lots of healthy oils into your diet.
If you would like to read more about MCT Oil…
