All about coconut oil, uses, benefits, questions and best brands available

Coconut oil is an edible oil, extensively used in various type of cooking. It has various other usage as well such as external application as moituriser or for body or head massage. It can also be used as mouthwash commonly known as oil pulling. It can be applied on hair too. There are several usage and benefits of coconut oil which we will discuss going further in the article. We will also take a look at different types of coconut oils and their method of preparation and last but not the least which coconut oil is best to buy.

Disclaimer: This article is not sponsored by any brand. Information published in this article is my own research and my own opinion.

Benefits of coconut oil –

Coconut oil is claimed to have several benefits.

Antimicrobial effects –

Coconut oil possess anti-microbial anti-fungal properties. Researches suggest that it can have both bacteriostatic agents (compound that can prevent the growth of bacteria) and bactericidal agents (compounds that can kill bacterial) and hence prevents and kill multiple disease carrying micro organism

Can increase satiety –

Researches suggest that consumption of coconut oil can lead to feeling fuller for longer after meals. Reason for that is it contains MCTs, and a MCTs are broken in such a way that they release ketones. Ketones can reduce the hunger by either directly interfering with brain’s chemicals that gives the message about hunger and satiety, or it can alter the levels of hormones that induces hunger such as ghrelin.

Good For Hair –

Coconut oil has been used since ages as a hair oil. Ayurveda says and researches confirm that because this oil penetrates scalp deeply (thanks to presence of lauric acid), it nourishes the hair strands well and make them more flexible and hence can prevent them from breaking easily under tension. This quality of reaching deep into strands provide more moisturised and heal breakage.

Boost skin health –

Ayurveda suggests and now researchers also agrees that coconut oil is very helpful in reducing the dryness of skin and increasing it’s moisture content. It not only improves the moisture content but also is beneficial in improving skin functioning by preventing excessive water loss because of chemicals and allergens

You can also mix coconut oil with 1-2 drops of vitamin E and apply it on your skin or massage your scalp for a far better results.

Good for Oral Health –

There is an age-old practice mentioned in Ayurveda called ‘Gandusha’ and now a days more popularly known as ‘oil pulling’. Oil pulling has shown results in studies that it can increase oral hygiene. It is believed that these results are achieved because of the presence of ‘Lauric Acid’ in coconut oil that provides the antimicrobial properties to it.

Good source of antioxidants –

Antioxidants are molecules that helps us fight free radicals present in our body. These free radicals can become the cause of chronic and degenerative diseases. So, using coconut oil helps us keep them at bay.

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Usage of coconut oil-

There are various ways to use it, it can be used in cooking. It is a far better oil than many other refined oils available in the market thanks to it’s hight fat content because of which its smoke point is quite high and that makes it a very good option for high heat cooking.

This is an excellent oil for external applications also including massages for scalp and different body parts.

And as it is edible (obviously) it can directly be consumed. Many people who follow fat first approach takes a spoonful of coconut oil as first thing in the morning.

It can be used as mouthwash aka oil pulling, to improve your oral hygiene and takes it to one level above just brushing.

Going further we will take a look at how coconut oil is made and what are best brands available but before that lets take a quick look at several questions surrounding coconut oil.

Can coconut oil go bad?

Yes, although coconut oil has a long shelf life, but it can go bad. You need to store it properly in an airtight container and away from sunlight and moisture to make sure it has a long shelf life. Also always try to store any oil in a glass bottle, never store it in a plastic container.

If you notice change in texture or colour, specially in taste and smell then you can consider that oil has gone bad, and you can discard it. Coconut oil has its natural, pleasant and kind of neutral coconut smell and taste but if it has gone bad then the taste and smell will turn rancid and sour.

Popular Questions about coconut oil

When coconut oil goes bad?

Typical shelf life of a coconut oil is around 24 months, but it will also vary according to which coconut oil you are using and how you are storing it.

Are coconut oil and coconut butter the same?

While they may look similar, they are not same at all and also coconut oil and coconut butter cannot be substituted for one another. While one is oil (we will discuss the method of how it is obtained from coconut meat), the other is kind of a puree or you can say peanut butter equivalent of coconut. You can grind tender coconut meat along with its oil and the end result you will get will be coconut butter.

Are coconut oil and MCT oil the same?

MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) is a compound naturally found in the coconut oil that too abundantly. On the other hand, MCT oil are the high concentration of MCTs only. While coconut oil can be considered a natural product MCT oil is highly refined version of coconut oil or palm oil.

So, which one it better than the other, for us the answer is obvious, the more natural it is the better it is.

Is coconut oil good for weight loss?

Although the high amount of MCTs present in the coconut oil are considered to be the reason that it can promote weight by burning more calories and increasing satiety levels. But researchers are yet to conclude that.

Anyways we never advise to target weight loss, and even if you want so then it should be done on the backbone healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits.

Coconut oil or olive oil?

While both oils are good and offers different health benefits, it is better to include both in your food regime. One good way is to use coconut oil for cooking (higher smoke point the better) and use olive oil for salad dressing etc.

Coconut oil and cholesterol –

Well, studies have conflicted views about it. Some studies suggests that it is good for heart health as it helps in significantly increase HDL (good cholesterol), but there are other studies that claims that it also increases LDL (bad cholesterol). Until scientists prove anything we can learn from time tested methods and history that it has been in use since ages, and especially in the tropical regions. But the catch here is that our ancestors have been far more active than us.  So, if coconut grow somewhere near you then probably it is good idea to include this oil in your food regime (and obviously use it mindfully), at the same time be aware that an active and overall healthy (read balanced) lifestyle makes you healthy not just addition of removal of one particular thing.

Also read: History of obesity

Now let’s look at the process through which coconut oils are made as these processes lets us make more informed decision while purchasing the products.

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how is coconut oil made?

Oil extraction process is simple, you need an expeller (a machine) which can crush your raw material and fetch the oil out by pressing the crushed material. Now based on the raw material and type of expeller it is categorized as follows –

Wood pressed or cold pressed coconut oil–

While technically wood pressed and cold pressed are not the same thing, but they have a lot in common and many times used interchangeably. In case of wood pressed oil, expeller is made of wood, its crusher and presser both are made up of wood, and in the olden days these were rotated with the help of cattle. So, in this case rpm used to be low and whatever little heat was generated with this low rpm used to absorb by the wood hence raw material as in this case coconut doesn’t get heated and hence all the nutrients remain as is.

Whereas if the expeller uses steel and rotates it using industrial power on high rpm then it generates heat. Although this method produces a lot more oil than the traditional ones, but those oils are neither wood pressed nor cold pressed and nutritionally not that great.

Now a days many plants use a combination of steel and wood which helps them produce more oil than the traditional method at the same time locking most the nutrients in the oil (provided they are running it on low rpm). These are still a lot better choice than the steel pressed ones.

Normal vs virgin coconut oil –

This difference comes from the raw material supplied to the expeller. If you are extracting oil from the coconut meat (this kind is more suitable in wood pressed and cold pressed technology) or milk and after extracting the oil you are not refining, bleaching and decolouring (RBD) it then the oil is called virgin coconut oil. This kind of oil possess a natural coconut aroma and a little cloudier in colour.

On the other hands if you are extracting oil from the dried kernel of coconut also called ‘copra’ then making it go through the RBD process then the product you get is normal or refined or the coconut oil without smell and colour.

What is extra virgin coconut oil?

There are only 2 types refined and virgin. There is nothing called extra virgin coconut oil. The term extra virgin is just a marketing gimmick and probably borrowed from the term ‘extra virgin olive oil’. Some brands uses this term and explains it as they are using this term to define highest quality unrefined(virgin) oil.

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Best available brands for coconut oil –

As we have understood from the process of making, we are looking for the oil which is cold, and wood pressed plus which has not gone through the RBD process which means the oil should be virgin. And as we prefer organic in food products, we are now looking for

Organic wood/cold pressed virgin coconut oil.

So the best brands in my opinion are as follows –

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