Pure poison or pure gold: the truth about coconut oil

Coconut oil was back in the news last week as a Harvard professor referred to it as ‘pure poison’

Over the years, coconut oil has become so synonymous with health and wellbeing it rivals avocado as one of the most Instagrammable, ‘look-how-clean-my-diet-is’ food items. Each year, Brits spend a collective £16 million on this cooking oil - roughly equivalent to Newcastle United's transfer record. It's popular for a variety of reasons. The most notable of these is its level of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). MCTs are a kind of fat that your body finds very easy to digest and use for fast-acting energy. Boasting a rich vitamin profile, coconut oil is even used as a moisturiser and hair product. All those apparent benefits were called into question last week by Professor Karin Michels, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Prof. Michels claimed coconut oil was ‘pure poison’ that would ‘clog your arteries’. She later stated there was no evidence supporting its benefits. Granted, there are studies showing too much coconut oil can increase the amount of fatty deposits in your blood. Does this stand for poisonous levels of danger, though? Probably not. More recent research was shown on the BBC's Trust Me I'm A Doctor series. This study found LDL, your body's 'bad' cholesterol, was not increased when consuming coconut oil. In fact, coconut oil actually increased levels of HDL, the 'good' kind of cholesterol. Does that mean you can get away with eating as much as you like? Not so fast. Perhaps the biggest fad is its addition to drinks such as coffee. These concoctions are typically marketed with names such as ‘Hardcore Ultra Super Brain Coffee’. Cutting through the hype, it's just coffee with some cooking oil included. Despite its clear nutritional benefits, coconut oil is nine calories per gram. You can’t add heaps of this to your food and drink and expect to keep the weight off. A thumb-sized teaspoon portion occasionally added as a salad dressing is a far better option. After all, weight gain is generally triggered by consuming more calories than you burn off. If you're looking to stay trim this is worth remembering. For a boost to your brain function, caffeine alone is a stimulator of adrenaline. You don't necessarily need to add anything else. Read more from JOE's Ditch The Dad Bod series