420680 Thu Jul 12 21:52:40 -0700 2007 29 31 Home Cooking 0 2745541 I bought coconut oil at the store today! I love coconut and I have never seen coconut oil until today. What are the best uses of solid (in a jar) coconut oil?! Can you season cast iron with it? Can you season wood spoons and cutting boards with it? Thanks! Thu Jul 12 21:52:40 -0700 2007 95300 ktcolt 1 2745546 It's the ingredient that holds Australia's beloved Chocolate Crackles, together From memory I think it's 4 cups of Rice Bubbles (maybe Rice Crispies to you), 1.5 cups of icing sugar, i cup of dessicated coconut and 4 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. melt 250 of copha (solid coconut oil) until just melted. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well. Heap into patty pans and refrigerate until set. Classic 4-6 y/o party food (except that the grown ups alway get to them first!!) Thu Jul 12 22:00:41 -0700 2007 2745541 86137 purple goddess 1 2745549 'Highest' saturated fat you could find...colesterol too low? Think of it as a plant lard with a lower smoke point and much less in the way of flavor. Thu Jul 12 22:02:37 -0700 2007 2745541 14341 OCEllen 2 2745574 I keep wondering how long it's going to take to rehabilitate the word "lard". http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/now/aug24/ www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/ 0538,fsietsema,67988,15.html - 44k www.foodandwine.com/ invoke.cfm?objectid=1940E8E3-ACE3-4465-B166FDD30245D28A - And google "coconut oil healthy" and see what you find. It's high time we re-examined some of the dietary articles of faith of the last ~40 years. Thu Jul 12 22:22:43 -0700 2007 2745549 93465 PhoebeB 3 2746710 None of those articles proclaims that lard is good for you. For heaven's sake, the Food and Wine article compares lard to butter, and decides that lard is better. Geez, when the competition is butter, only trans-fat laden oils come out the loser. Coconut oil isn't even mentioned in any of those articles as a positive substance at all. And fact is, lard is horrible for you. Yes, back in the old days people ate it and didn't keel over and die, but they also toiled in the fields from dusk to dawn. Fri Jul 13 10:12:16 -0700 2007 2745574 45940 Shazam 1 2745650 Hmmmmmmmm...I am actually finding just the opposite in terms of information on the net that contradicts what everyone seems to be saying. Until I read the posts here...I didnt look on the net as I never even saw coconut oil in the supermarkets! Here is what I found: Now lets tell you a little bit about coconut oil. Coconut oil is one of the most stable oils you can buy. It does not turn rancid easily. It does not attack your arteries. In fact, coconut oil was one of the foods Weston Price studied in his journeys. He discovered that the coconut was considered, by the local populations, a medicine food. He found that those civilizations that consumed coconut regularly had no knowledge of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes. Let’s take a look at the healing properties of coconut oil: * Coconut oil is antiviral, antifungal (kills yeast too) and antibacterial. It attacks and kills viruses that have a lipid (fatty) coating, such as herpes, HIV, hepatitis C, the flu, and mononucleosis. It kills the bacteria that cause pneumonia, sore throats, dental cavities, urinary tract infections, meningitis, gonorrhea, food poisoning, pneumonia, and many, many more bacterial infections. It kills the fungus/yeast infections that cause candida, ringworm, athletes foot, thrush, jock itch, diaper rash and more. * Coconut oil is called the "low fat" fat. It actually acts like a carbohydrate in that it is quickly broken down in the liver and used as quick energy. It is NOT stored like other fats. It boosts one’s energy and endurance. Many athletes use it blended into their drinks. It also supports thyroid function and increases your metabolism (great if you want to lose weight). * Coconut oil improves digestion and absorption of fat soluble vitamins, minerals (especially calcium and magnesium), and amino acids. It improves the body’s use of blood glucose and improves insulin secretion and absorption (great for type II diabetes). In fact, many diabetics (type I and type II) use it to reduce their symptoms. One’s risk of diabetes decreases with regular use of coconuts and coconut oil. And as we already mentioned, cooking with coconut oil does not create any harmful byproducts. * Coconut oil helps the body heal and repair faster. It aids and supports immune function, protecting us from a variety of cancers. * Coconut oil, contrary to much hubbub, is good for your heart. It keeps our blood platelets from sticking together (and causing dangerous clots). Regular users of coconut oils have a much lower chance of atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries), arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and strokes. Coconut oil can lower your blood pressure. * Coconut oil is a natural antioxidant. It protects the body from free radical damage and prevents premature aging and degenerative diseases. * Finally, coconut oil is the best massage oil on the planet. What it does to your skin, you simply have to witness. It forms a barrier against infections, softens and moisturizes your skin, and prevents wrinkling, sagging, and age spots. It promotes healthy hair and complexion, protects from any damaging UV rays. (It is used in Ron Salley’s products.) So? How come we don’t know about coconut oil? In our research, we discovered that coconut oil was attacked by the oil industry as being an "artery clogger." While doing this research, we were contacted by Bruce Fife, ND, who sent us a copy of his book to review: The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil. Thu Jul 12 23:35:10 -0700 2007 2745541 95300 ktcolt 2 2746954 Can I ask you for your references ktcolt? In the 7 years I studied Food Science, Biochemistry and Human Nutrition, the consensus was that coconut oil IS a saturated fat. All fats have a combination of saturated, monosaturated and polysaturated fats and they are classified as the fatty acid with the highest percentage. Coconut Oil is about 90-95% saturated and in fact it is made up of mostly long-chain fatty acids (Lauric Acid makes up 50% of it) which are guilty of raising cholesterol. The fact that other civilizations with high intake of coconut oil have lower heart disease may very well be for other reasons. Health is multifactorial (diet, lifestyle, environment, genetics etc, etc). For example are vegetarians healthier because they don't eat meat or because they eat more fruits and vegetables than non vegetarians or both? We would need to find a group of people that ate the same diet as the vegetarian group and add the average amount of meat the normal person eats on top of that diet to see...and then the problem would be that they would be eating more calories so they would gain weight and then weight causes inflammation so if they have a heart attack you still wouldn't know why...research about nutrition is complicated, which is why we get new information all the time. Someone mentioned a google search...well not everything that comes up can be trusted...at all. Many of these links are meant to sell the stuff. Do a search on Google scholar and read the research articles. Now don't get me wrong. I am not trying to say coconut oil is the devil. I truly believe that anything that is natural and minimally processed can be part of a very healthy diet. I eat both butter and coconut oil and I am a dietitian. IMO it is the processed foods and the excessive portions what make you fat and unhealthy. I would not doubt that coconut oil may have OTHER very healthy properties (and Ghee might too and many people claim it does BTW ;-)). But trying to say that the saturated fat in coconut oil will not raise cholesterol is simply untrue. Enjoy your oil...no guilt please ;-) Fri Jul 13 11:04:04 -0700 2007 2745650 79316 yomyb 3 2747153 Coconut oil is a saturated fat. However, there is a misconception that all saturated fats are bad. In fact, naturally occurring saturated fats are a necessary part of the diet. Here are two examples (that I could quickly come up with) about saturated fat/coconut oil: The Maker's Diet: Use extra-virgin coocnut oil in cooking, baking, and in smoothies. It is a stable, healthy saturated fat that does NOT elevate undesirable (LDL) cholesterol; The Schwarzbein Princiiple: All of the processes leading to the plaqueing of the arteries are caused by the overproduction of insulin. ... in 1961 in Circulation Research, researchers actually infused insulin into ... demonstrating that insulin causes this [plaqueing of the arteries] to occur. I agree with yomyb that processed foods and excessive portions are what make us fat and unhealthy. Fri Jul 13 11:47:44 -0700 2007 2746954 111605 cbh 4 2747256 CBH: It is not a misconception. The only saturated fats that do not have a bad (but not good either) effect on cholesterol and lipid panels are the medium chain saturated fatty acids. These are not what coconut oil is composed mostly of. I agree that fats are a necessary part of the diet, but this doesn't mean that the saturated fat in coconut oil will not raise cholesterol. Also, The Maker's Diet is considered another fad diet among nutrition and dietetics professionals, so I would not just believe what they say before researching on my own. Insulin resistance does promote oxidation of fats in the blood which leads to artery damage, but again, it is the excess of fats and calories in the diet which makes you overweight what leads to insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia (high levels of fats and cholesterol in the blood). Fri Jul 13 12:14:02 -0700 2007 2747153 79316 yomyb 5 2747384 Could you please site your sources for this health information that you are providing to us? tia Fri Jul 13 12:44:19 -0700 2007 2747256 94455 THenderson 5 2747484 The term "insulin resistance" is used to define the condition where a person's cells do not allow insulin to unload sugar from the bloodstream. Insulin resistant people have both high insulin levels and high blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance is triggered by an excess accumulation of sugar in the cells of the body, causing these cells to "resist" insulin which prohibits additional sugar from entering them. Dietary fats, those that are ingested, do not turn into additional fat on your body. In order for fat to be stored in fat cells, insulin must be present. Since eating fat does not stimulate the release of insulin from the pancreas, eating fat cannot result in the storage of fat in the body. Fri Jul 13 13:12:13 -0700 2007 2747256 111605 cbh 6 2749574 These are the topics that I studied and learned in college. During my MS studies I did several classes on macronutrient metabolism. Insulin resistance means our cells loose the ability to receive insulin into the cell's insulin receptors which are the ones that allow glucose (sugar) to enter the cells for energy. This is why people with insulin resistance and diabetes have high blood sugar, because it cannot leave the blood and enter the cells.I would like to talk about the fat and insulin issue also. The processes are complicated and have a lot of steps to them but, in a nutshell, it is simply untrue that fat is not stored!!!! The body will store excess of energy (from calories) that it does not use as body fat, whether it comes from dietary fat, carbohydrates or proteins. Period. The body uses ALL of these for energy. Yes it is true that when we eat carbohydrate, the insulin response if faster and sharper, especially simple ones like sugar (which is the premise of the glycemic index, Atkins diet etc) than when we eat fat and protein. This is why we dietitians recommend diabetics to always include protein and fat in their meals and control carbohydrate, because their bodies either do not produce or cannot use insulin very well. However, insulin is the hormone that triggers breakdown and storage of all macronutrients: fat, carbohydrate and protein (glucagon is the one that does the opposite). So, if you eat 3000 calories of butter, and your body only uses 2000 of them the extra energy will be stored as fat in your body. When carbohydrates are digested they are broken down into glucose molecules used either for storage as glycogen (the preferred source of energy stored in the liver that we use for exercise etc before we start using fat) or it is used directly for energy. Fat is composed of glycerol and fatty acids. These are broken down in the stomach by pancreatic enzymes before our body can absorb them. Once absorbed, fatty acids, like the long chained saturated ones in coconut oil, will be either used for energy or stored by the body in adipose tissue as body fat. Proteins are broken down into amino acids. The body takes the nitrogen from the amino acids to make nitrogen containing products (like urea in urine) and the remaining amino acids go to either body protein (for tissue repair and building) or are used for energy in the body like fats and carbohydrates if needed. The body can use any of these three macronutrients for energy, so if excess energy is consumed in the form of food it doesn’t matter from what macronutrient, it can be stored as fat for later use as energy. That is how our body metabolizes food. That’s why calories are calories and you will gain weight and body fat if you consume too many calories no matter if you eat steak or bread in excess. This is the struggle that dietitians go through trying to explain to clients that if calories in equal calories out then there is weight maintenance, when calories in do not equal calories out, you gain or lose weight. People don’t understand the process fully. You can look this information up in any nutrition and metabolism textbook such as: Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism (with InfoTrac ) by Sareen S. Gropper, Jack L. Smith, and James L. Groff (Hardcover - April 16, 2004) Nutrition and Metabolism (Human Nutrition Textbook Series.) by Ian Macdonald, Helen M. Roche, Nutrition Society Staff, and Michael J. Gibney (Paperback - Oct 1, 2003) Introduction to Nutrition and Metabolism, Fourth Edition (Paperback) by David A. Bender (Author) Or any of the following university websites: http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/08366/h&p2fat.htm http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/08366/h&p2ptn.htm http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/08366/h&p2carb.htm http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/genobc/Chapter_23/ http://muscle.ucsd.edu/musintro/fattyacid.shtml Have a good day guys. And don't worry about this stuff, enjoy your food. Everything in moderation :-) Sat Jul 14 11:00:37 -0700 2007 2747484 79316 yomyb 7 2749901 Yomyb.... Soooooooo compared to oils and lipids out there that we all cook with...olive...vegetable...canola...safflower....seasame....butter...crisco...etc...where does coconut oil rank in terms of health benefits...better or worse than the above? What do you cook with? I appreciate your passion in trying to explain all this...but is your bottom line?! :o) Sat Jul 14 13:51:37 -0700 2007 2749574 95300 ktcolt 8 2752122 Coconut oil is considered a saturated fat like butter and is metabolized like such. So it can potentially raise cholesterol, but I am not sure about the numerous OTHER health benefits it may have. That is something I would love to look into, maybe in some circumstances the benefits outweigh the risk (plus culinary speaking it is fantastic ;-)). And as I mentioned, NATURAL sources of any fat in moderation are OK. As far as oils that are better for HEART HEALTH, I would recommend monounsaturated oils like olive and canola. These lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and may raise HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol). Canola oil also contains small amount of Omega 3 fatty acids which are essential fats and antioxidants that are heart healthy (reduce inflammation). Other monounsaturated oils include avocado, sesame, almond, peanut, walnut and hazelnut oils.Most other vegetable oils are polyunsaturated which are also healthy; they do not raise LDL cholesterol. Crisco is shortening, and can be full of trans fat, the worst heart enemy. You can look up a full list by category here: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats.html, along with some very good information on all fats and health. My bottom line ktcolt: Use mainly olive and canola oil in your kitchen as they are flavorful, versatile and healthy. Use nut oils for flavor and variety (they are more expensive). Use butter, coconut, ghee and lard in moderation and enjoy all of it. :-) Sun Jul 15 16:05:53 -0700 2007 2749901 79316 yomyb 5 2749804 It has been my understanding that coconut oil is indeed a good oil. There was an article written in The Chronicle food section a few years ago claiming the healthful benefits of the oil. According to Dr Mary Enig who is a nutritionist/biochemist, the compostion of coconut oil is 63.4% short and medium chain fatty acids and only 36.6% long chain fatty acids, which 28.5% are saturated. I have been using coconut oil for stir fries and for making curries for a few years now. It's extremely stable and has a shelf life up to three years. It is solid but melts at about 76 degrees, so on very hot days it will be liquid. There is a book "The Good Fat Cookbook" by Fran McCullough that has lipid information and lots of recipes using the "good fats", some which include coconut oil. Sat Jul 14 12:58:35 -0700 2007 2747256 111799 maicurtis 3 2747326 I have no idea where I found these articles. I dont think I can duplicate it again. I agree that coconut oil must be high in fat....I was just under the impression it is a better fat than others. I dont know...as my OP said...it was the FIRST time I had seen or bought it! I am totally open to info that is accurate and the like!! It was a curiosity and a love for coconut the fruit that prompted me buying the oil! Fri Jul 13 12:32:22 -0700 2007 2746954 95300 ktcolt 3 2752260 Here's reputable research that shows otherwise and also lists some important benefits of coconut oil... http://westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut_oil.html Sun Jul 15 17:33:09 -0700 2007 2746954 13787 Moka 3 3397163 Sorry for replying to an old thread, but I just read this and I had to say something. User yomyb said this: "In the 7 years I studied Food Science, Biochemistry and Human Nutrition, the consensus was that coconut oil IS a saturated fat. [...] Coconut Oil is about 90-95% saturated and in fact it is made up of mostly long-chain fatty acids (Lauric Acid makes up 50% of it) which are guilty of raising cholesterol." I don't know where you "studied Food Science, Biochemistry and Human Nutrition", but lauric acid is a MEDIUM CHAIN fatty acid, not a LONG CHAIN fatty acid. This is a pretty big snafu since it destroys your entire argument. The benefits of lauric acid have been studied and it's worth looking it up to find out why so many people think coconut oil is a good thing. Plus, in addtion to its 48% lauric acid content, coconut oil is 7% capric acid...another medium chain fatty acid. Even considering these two fatty acids alone, this means coconut oil is categorically made up mostly of MEDIUM chain fatty acids, not long chain as you stated. And you even went on to mention the benefits of medium chain fatty acids in another post!! yomyb also said: "Someone mentioned a google search...well not everything that comes up can be trusted..." This is a perfect example of that. Guess how I found yomyb's post? You should never believe something someone says just because they "studied" something, whether you found them through Google or not. Just because someone learned something in college doesn't mean they remember it correctly. Thu Feb 14 09:28:55 -0800 2008 2746954 166002 oxymoron 4 4831524 Wowo I just saw this! Nice attack there buddy! Well I just said what I know, that lauric acid, the main component of coconut oil is a long chain fatty acid (a medium length long chain fatty acid if you want to be really specific), that coconut oil is considered a saturated fat and saturated fats can raise cholesterol. I NEVER said that I though coconut oil is bad for you and should never be consumed, like I said I consume it myself. I don't think it is better for you than canola oil, a monosaturated fat, but anyway, I am sorry you went through so much anger there... LOL Sun Jul 05 16:20:32 -0700 2009 3397163 79316 yomyb 1 2745769 Coconut oil is considered by health types to be one of the best oils around for cooking. I use it whenever I don't need that olive oil flavor. Yes, I think we were misled for years about how bad it is--this was probably back in the day when we all believed the best thing on the planet was Crisco. So white and pure it was, and great for frying chicken. Too bad we weren't focusing on the dangers of hydrogenated fats then! Give me coconut oil, lard, and butter any day. Fri Jul 13 04:24:04 -0700 2007 2745541 28254 sagestrat 2 2745901 Back to the original question. I love using a teaspoon of oil in my morning oatmeal. I also use a teaspoon on my DD's oatmeal pancakes. She gets a little fat that way and the taste is nice and mild without using sugar. I have found that coconut is a good alternative Milk of Magnesia in toddlers. Even when following the doctor's doses my DD would get stomach cramps. Using a tsp. of coconut oil a day allows her to go to the bathroom without pain. It is also a good treatment for excema. Fri Jul 13 06:13:49 -0700 2007 2745769 11227 nissenpa 2 2745982 Don't forget bacon drippings :o) Fri Jul 13 06:41:26 -0700 2007 2745769 93465 PhoebeB 3 2746503 It is fantastic for popping popcorn! You will also find that it will liquefy occasionally. It's like a thermometer. At a certain temp it will liquefy, but then it will become solid when it gets cooler. Just wanted to let you know it is normal. -Becca www.porterhouse.typepad.com Fri Jul 13 09:11:19 -0700 2007 2745982 11259 Becca Porter 3 2746594 I don't get it. What does bacon drippings have to do with coconut oil? Fri Jul 13 09:38:03 -0700 2007 2745982 95300 ktcolt 4 2746804 I was just adding a personal favorite to sagestrat's list of coconut oil, butter, lard. (Mostly for jfood's benefit.) Fri Jul 13 10:35:13 -0700 2007 2746594 93465 PhoebeB 1 2746867 This is what Taco Bell used to fry their shells and chips in before the food police got wind of it. Fri Jul 13 10:46:31 -0700 2007 2745541 76226 Oh Robin 1 2746929 I don't have a reference handy so ought not to mention it, probably, but I understand when a lot of the "solid fats are bad" studies were done, hydrogenated (trans) fats were used because they were cheap and standardized, under the assumption that all fats solid at room temperature was equivalent. Turns out natural saturated fats, such as coconut oil, are not actively harmful, like trans fats, after all. Fri Jul 13 10:58:26 -0700 2007 2745541 96587 cmkdvs 1 2749895 Wow! This thread took on a life of it's own. I wish there was one go-to source that would be the end all be all of information. There seems to be no middle ground. Either they (internet research) think it is the evil of evil in terms of oil or they think it is more healthful than most oils. I say everything in moderation. Thanks to all comments!! Sat Jul 14 13:47:41 -0700 2007 2745541 95300 ktcolt 2 2752150 It's also nice to soften the skin. Not sure but I think this may be a common use for it in India. Sun Jul 15 16:23:47 -0700 2007 2749895 10861 Babette 1 4827551 go this info http://products.mercola.com/coconut-oil/ During World War II, the Japanese military occupied the Philippines and other South Pacific islands, where bloody battles were being fought. The once-plentiful supply of coconut oil was effectively cut off from the United States. Although coconut oil had been popular both as a cooking oil and ingredient in numerous food products, the occupation continued to interrupt the supply for several long years as the war slowly dragged on. Enter good old American ingenuity (in this case, not so good for your health). Manufacturers began to develop alternative sources of cooking oils, and the polyunsaturated oils phase was born. By the time the war was over, there was a lot of money at stake in the promotion of these polyunsaturated vegetable oils. By the end of the 1950's, public opinion had turned totally against saturated fats like butter (and coconut oil). Saturated fats were blamed for raising cholesterol, and cholesterol was now viewed as the evil enemy, the culprit responsible for the steep rise in heart disease. Butter, eggs and coconut oil were out. The new vegetable oils were in... and erroneously touted as "heart-healthy." Coconut oil continued to be demonized by the vegetable oil industry throughout the ensuing decades. Adding insult to injury, the soybean industry began to condemn the use of tropical oils, particularly coconut oil. And I'm sure you realize the reason why -- competition... and millions and millions of dollars. Unfortunately, the tropical oil industry, centered in poorer nations like the Philippines and Indonesia, could not afford to counter the negative propaganda spread by rich American industrial conglomerates. Science and good health took a back seat to profits, as they have on more than one occasion... Fri Jul 03 11:19:06 -0700 2009 2745541 1090591 john4