The team conducted a study to determine if virgin coconut oil could replace drugs for reducing obesity and its associated comorbid inflammatory and diabetic conditions. Refined carbohydrates were used to create adiposity in experimental mice. Using refined carbohydrates and processed vegetable oils to avoid saturated fat is unhealthy as the standard American diet has proven; refined carbohydrates, sugars, flours, high fructose corn syrup, and processed foods in western society has been recognized as the real culprits behind obesity, diabetes, and heart disease by any who are open to the truth.
Model mice were split in 2 major feeding groups for 8 weeks: 8 being fed standard chow as control group C; and a second group of 32 fed high refined carbohydrate as control group HC to induce obesity. The HC obese group was subdivided into four groups of 8: one continued on the original high refined diet; the other three HC groups were fed different amounts of virgin coconut oil equivalencies of human VCO consumption to body weight for 4 weeks.
Low dose LVCO group was supplemented with 1000 mg/kg body weight; medium dose 3000 mg/kg body weight; high dose 9000 mg/kg body weight; doses were adjusted according to body weight changes weekly as needed during the four week period.
During the feeding periods animals were closely monitored, after 12 weeks the animals were humanely sacrificed for various analyses including cytokine analysis, liver analyses, blood count, serum comparisons, and adipose measurements. The team proved decreased adipose tissue inflammation among the HC fed animals after VCO supplementation and improved hepatic steatosis induced by the HC diet. The animals were not taken off the HC diets while receiving VCO treatments, this implies that coconut oil may help those with fatty liver without changing dietary habits.The team concluded VCO can be considered as a potential approach to attenuating obesity and its metabolic and inflammatory alterations.
These findings add to the body of evidence that speaks to the medicinal properties of coconut oil. The team aware of the common saturated fat phobia, proved that the high medium chain triglyceride of coconut oil is naturally medicinally efficacious without side effects, and recognized the high nutritional value of coconut oil not stripped of its nutrients and antioxidants.
