Coconut Oil: A Comprehensive Guide to Its Benefits and Uses

About coconut oil we can read both positive things and negative properties. What are we left with?

Nutritional composition of coconut oil

The coconut, despite being considered a fruit, has a very different nutritional composition from most fruits. It's about a semi solid product at room temperature, from mild flavor and does not oxidize easilye so it represents a very good option for food industries that want to make pastry products, ice creams, pre-cooked dishes, etc. where that creaminess and unctuousness is very useful.

• It contains mGive us water and much more fat. To get an idea, water represents 45% of its pulp, while in most fruits it is around 85%.
• The carbohydrates, specifically sugars, represent 5-6% of its composition
• The protein they constitute 3% -4%.
• It has between 9 and 10% of fiber.
• The fats They represent 35%, among these we find the majority of saturated fatty acids, which are between 29% and 30% of the total, monounsaturated fats approximately 2.2% and polyunsaturated 1.6% -2%. Also, it contains medium chain fatty acids, such as capric and lauric acid.
• Regarding the minerals it has potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium.
• Vitamins of group B, vitamin E and carotenoids.

If we analyze coconut oil itself, which, as its name suggests, is an oil, or what is the same, a type of fat, we are focusing on that 35% fat that it contains. Actually, coconut oil, due to its composition, even though we are talking about oil, we could call it coconut butter, which is in fact how the Spanish food code classifies it, since it is solid at room temperature due to its majority content in saturated fatty acids.

Virgin coconut oil

Actually, just as it has a series of classifications according to its production and treatment, the coconut does not have this classification. According to him food codex Coconut oil is obtained from the coconut and in general terms it is established that the Virgin oils are obtained, without modifying the oil, by mechanical procedures and by applying only heat. They may have been purified by washing, sedimentation, filtration and centrifugation only. And the cold pressed oils they are obtained by mechanical procedures only, without the application of heat. They may have been purified by washing, sedimentation, filtration and centrifugation only.

Coconut oil benefits:

For babies and premature babies

Medium chain fatty acids are going to be very suitable for people with reduced digestive capacity for problems such as: pancreatic or digestive problems, intestinal resection or removal of the gallbladder.

For babies and premature babies

Also in certain cases you can require its use in babies, due to the immaturity of the digestive system. Thus, medium chain fatty acids are used in the formulation of specific products for these groups. In clinical nutrition, the oil formed by medium chain triglycerides is known as MCT oil. These oils are used in formulas for feeding premature babies. On the other hand, lauric acid has long been used in cosmetics for its antimicrobial properties.

In the processed

Logically, it is very difficult all the processed products on the market, but it is likely that there are few or very few, if any, that use virgin coconut oil in its formulation. We must take into account two things:

• Virgin oil always it is usually more expensive being the highest quality
• It is usually interesting to subject the oils to different technological processes in order to achieve a more solid fat so that it does not separate from the product. The best known process of this type is hydrogenation, as it is related to the presence of Trans fatty acids, which for years have been related to an increase in cardiovascular risk.

So we use it?

As we have mentioned, coconut oil is a fundamentally saturated fat, with a high content of lauric acid. It makes sense to use it, as it is done, in cosmetic products and in specific nutrition formulas for groups that require it. We can also choose to use "virgin coconut oil" to prepare certain recipes, especially pastries, instead of butter or margarine.

But today we cannot claim many of the benefits that are attributed to coconut oil, as many of them are still under study. On the other hand, we cannot forget that we are talking about a saturated fat product, so it does not make sense, with current evidence, to recommend its habitual consumption or associate it with weight loss and unless its use can displace a product indigenous and demonstrably healthy like olive oil.

• Coconut oil is a fundamentally saturated fat, with a high content of lauric acid. It makes sense to use it, in cosmetic products and in specific nutrition formulas for groups that require it.
• We can also choose to use "virgin coconut oil" to prepare certain recipes, especially pastries, instead of butter or margarine.
• But today we cannot affirm many of the benefits that are attributed to coconut oil, since many of these supposed benefits are still under study.

Merce Gonzalo

Bachelor of Food Science and Technology Diploma in Human Nutrition and Dietetics.