MCT Gold and coconut oil are highly recommended for health
After sharing my podcast interview with Dr. Mary Newport earlier this week, I received a large amount of feedback from my listeners about coconut oil and the primary health ingredient found in coconut oil–namely medium-chain triglycerides, or MCTs. The dramatic turnaround in the Alzheimer’s disease that Dr. Newport’s husband has experienced is motivating a lot of people to try this for themselves.
I first became aware of MCTs when I did a blog interview in 2007 with Dr. Larry McCleary, a neurosurgeon who understands the positive impact of ketone bodies on brain health. He expanded upon this during my podcast interview with him earlier this year and convinced me to give MCT oil a try.
Coconut oil has already been a part of my low-carb lifestyle for the past couple of years and my favorite brand is Nutiva. As I explained to Dr. Newport during our interview this week, most coconut oils that you buy in stores are pretty nasty, look disgustingly yellowish, and smell like a wax candle. The Nutiva brand gives you a delicious, bright white, lightly coconut smell that is the perfect addition to any hot beverage like coffee or tea or to use in cooking foods like chicken and vegetables. You can get a big gallon bucket of coconut oil and it will last you a LONG time.
During the summer months, this white thick oil will become a liquid, so you might want to store it in the refrigerator if you like to scoop it. Conversely, in the winter, the coconut oil becomes hardened when the temperatures dip below 76 degrees inside your house. Finding new ways to incorporate this healthy oil into your diet is half the fun of using it, too! But, if you’re looking for a way to get MCTs into your body, the best way is to use MCT oil directly.
Dr. McCleary noted in my podcast interview with him that you get a potent punch of MCTs when you take several tablespoons MCT Gold daily. As he says, this will “make your body spill lots of ketones” for use as energy for your brain and body. I’ve been taking this for about a month now and I’m anxious to see what impact it will have on my health. But what is this stuff and why is it so important when you are livin’ la vida low-carb?
Many people think that well-developed muscles are evidence of physical fitness. Firm, toned muscles are considered esthetically pleasing and hundreds of thousands of people spend untold hours to appear “muscular.” Their appearance notwithstanding, muscles are specialized tissues that contract to produce body movement.
Muscle cells require great energy to contract, especially during intense exercise and endurance training. Nature has evolved a sophisticated system to produce energy that the body needs. Energy is released when muscle cells break down carbohydrate, fat and protein. The body utilizes these nutrients in rather specific amounts during physical activity. Excess glucose that is not used directly to yield energy is transported via the bloodstream to liver and muscle tissue, where it is stored in the form of
glycogen.
Fat is the body’s most rich source of food energy. Unlike glycogen, fat is stored in the fat cells and, therefore, is less readily available for energy production. In order for fat to be used as an energy source, it must first be broken down into fatty acids, which are then transported by the blood to the muscle to be burned. Protein is required for the repair and recovery of the muscle tissue.
Carbohydrates, especially refined sugars as you well know, are not ideal sources of immediate energy needed to maintain an exercise regimen. That is where MCTs can help the athlete develop stamina and endurance. Medium chain triglycerides are actually not carbohydrates. Rather, MCTs are important fatty acids that provide energy exactly like carbohydrates.
Also known as caprylic and capric acids, MCTs function differently from conventional fats. That means that less fat is absorbed in the body. During intense exercise, MCTs prevent the breakdown of the muscle tissue, since they produce the ketones, which are used directly by the muscle to produce energy and reduce muscle loss. Conventional fats do not produce many ketones. In addition, the MCTs are quickly absorbed and circulate in the bloodstream, and they do not produce fatigue as is common with the consumption of simple sugars.
The MCTs are unique in that they can be turned into energy inside the mitochondria–the powerhouses of energy production in the cell. Conventional fats can be burned only any excess carbs have been burned first. This has important implication in that the burning of MCTs produces more ketones and extends glycogen for prolonging endurance for training and stamina.
Medium chain triglycerides also improve the absorption of amino acids, which are critical for muscle tissue repair. Furthermore, MCTS also improve the absorption of calcium and magnesium. These minerals are needed for amino acid metabolism to improve muscle contraction response time.
The MCTs have been shown to lower cholesterol, and its deposition in various body tissues. In fact, MCTs are digested immediately after ingestion as they are hydrolyzed by the enzyme lipase present in the saliva. Additionally, energy released by the digestion and metabolism of MCTs is converted in the body heat by a process called thermogenesis, which favorably affects the basal rate of metabolism. When the body converts energy into heat, the metabolism increases that, in turn, leads to fat loss.
In short, MCTs are known as “carbo-lipid” for good reason, since they not only prevent muscle loss and increase lean body mass but also lower cholesterol deposition. The MCTs, therefore are a nutrient that has great value for those in endurance training and the “body culture.” And you can say they’re PERFECT for anyone who is livin’ la vida low-carb!
Jimmy, with all due respect for your information, please be careful in passing along the recommendation to use MCTs and coconut oil. First, the general obese or overweight population have an alarmingly high rate of NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
There are some questionable associations about medical intervention for people with NAFLD and MCTs and a corresponding increase in liver congestion and advancement of the disease into full blown NASH, Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (liver fibrosis) which then leads to cirrhosis of the liver.
Here is a study that talks about it:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/518706
and another:
http://www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts/Abstract.aspx?AcNo=19891413441
http://www.answers.com/topic/medium-chain-triglycerides
THANKS Pooti! So, are you saying that consumption of MCTs makes NAFLD worse?
–Jimmy
Thanks for this info, Jimmy! After listening to Dr. McCleary and also to Dr. Newport, we dusted off our jar of coconut oil and ordered some MCT Gold. Jimmy, do you feel more energetic from the MCT oil?
Thanks!
You know, Kay, since I’ve been taking the MCT oil, there has been a change in my body where I feel stronger, more energetic, and alert. It’s amazing to think something as simple as taking MCTs could make such a big difference. But it does!
–Jimmy
Nice post Jimmy, So in sum it sounds like it may be accurate to say “eat triglycerides to lose triglycerides” as we like to say w/r/t/ fat? Do you know if that’s been studied or at least correlated?
Side note is your book going to have spots where it’s this technical? From my perspective I hope so! Do you have any book recommendations near the level of GCBC regarding metabolism?
You’ve got a lot of questions, Matt!
It stands to reason that consuming triglycerides helps you lower triglycerides the same way eating saturated fat lowers saturated fat in the blood. Off the top of my head, I’m not aware of any research that confirms this, but keep in mind a lot of research that shows these kind of correlations are blacklisted by the gatekeepers at the medical journals.
Is my book gonna include some technical explanations like this post? Actually, there will be several chapters looking at the various studies that have come out both in favor and against low-carb. This book will be VERY thorough and more technical than my first one which was meant to be inspirational.
As for book recommendations regarding metabolism along the professional lines of Gary Taubes’ GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES, that one is the granddaddy of them all right now. Definitely DR. ATKINS’ NEW DIET REVOLUTION is an extension of the concepts outlined in GCBC as is PROTEIN POWER by Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades. There are a few books coming down the line in the next couple of years from Dr. John Salerno, the Eades, and Art DeVany that may be just what you’re looking for.
You know I’ll be interviewing the authors and featuring these books here, so keep reading!
–Jimmy
Great story! Thanks for doing this interview. I’m going to start using my coconut oil on a more regular basis now.
Jimmy, I’m not saying anything because I’m not qualified. But seeing those studies made me stop taking coconut oil. I would want someone more knowledgeable than me to read and interpret them. But it certainly looks like people with NAFLD, NASH, cirrhosis, liver cancer, ALD (alcoholic liver disease) or any type of liver problem (and MANY people who are overweight or obese already have silent NAFLD, it’s the silent epidemic right now and they are looking at it as almost a Diabetes Type 3 right now) – that you should know the health of your liver before taking these MCTs. I’m not entirely sure if an M.D. would know any of this stuff. So you almost have to go to a liver doctor and show him these studies to know whether MCTs are right for you.
THANKS for sharing your concerns for others to benefit from the added knowledge.
–Jimmy
In my never ending quest to dump those last 15 pounds, I decided to try replacing some meals with shakes, a la Dr. Eades suggestion. But I took his basic shake recipe to perhaps ridiculous extremes. I start with a can of coconut milk (13.5 ounces), add 3 scoops plain protein powder, add some blueberries, strawberries, a bit of banana, some water, some ice, and some sugarless Poloner jelly (has spenda in it). The whole concoction clocks in at just over 1000 calories, about 60g protein, and who knows how much fat (loads!). For three days, I had that for breakfast and for dinner. When I got a bit hungry during the day, which btw, wasnt till about 3pm, I chewed on some homemade beef jerky.
This was just an experiment, so who knows how it would go if I tried it long term, but somehow I lost a couple of pounds over those 3 days, in spite of the fact that I was probably eating more calories than normal.
It could be that the coconut fat doesn’t get stored as body fat as easily, so you can consume a hell of a lot of it, satisfying your hunger, and still losing weight.
I would have kept going, but I ran out of coconut milk, hahah. Once I restock, there’ll be more experimenting to come! I can see that it wont take long to get sick of the shakes, so I may try doing this routine during the week, and then eating normal low carb fare on the weekends.
Fascinating, Freddy! Sounds like an interesting experiment…even with all those CALORIES!
–Jimmy
I’ve been on the fence about coconut oil before but have recently taken the plunge again. I trust Dr. Eades and he says coconut oil is a winner. So instead of swigging fish oil I now take krill oil capsules and swig coconut oil.
I wonder if MCT oil is indeed better than coconut oil and if so, by what margin.
Actually, I prefer the taste of MCT oil over coconut oil. It has a slightly sweet taste to it and I take it several times daily. Is MCT oil superior to coconut oil? Well, if you’re wanting to get pure MCTs, then the answer is YES. There are 14g of medium chain triglycerides in each tablespoon of MCT oil. You get a lot less from coconut oil. Dr. Larry McCleary said coconut oil is only about 5% MCT oil, so you’re better off going with the pure, 100% MCT oil IMHO.
–Jimmy
Jimmy that first link didn’t show the article. I hope this link will work better.
http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/4837_pnt
THANKS again, Pooti!
–Jimmy
Abstract:
A boy 12 years old with intractable epilepsy developed fatty infiltration of the liver after 3 years of treatment on a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) diet. This was not associated with any hepatic dysfunction and resolved after discontinuing the diet. Of 4 other patients on the same diet 3 had evidence of hepatic steatosis.
This is one of the studies. The other one still isn’t posting. No mention of coconut oil here; this is described as an MCT diet. Probably derived from coconut. Does the other article (it still doesn’t show) use MCT derived from coconut oil, or coconut oil itself?
Dr Michael Eades wrote a while back about saturated fat actually protecting the liver from alcohol-induced fatty liver. Maybe some of the fat in the coconut oil that isn’t MCT plays a similar role. Alcohol breaks down to acetone, and that’s a ketone, right? So I think it’s a reasonable possibility to consider. Traditional groups that have coconut as a major source of calories aren’t famous for their fatty livers.
I use coconut in cooking but I also use it as a moisturizer – and it heals cuts quickly. I’ve even had it dissolve a wart in 3 days. I *LOVE* coconut oil.
Donny this last link shows the complete study. You have to scroll down past the ads to get to the study. It is also an MCT study and also mentions coconut oil.
http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/4837_pnt
Jimmy,
I wish your would stop the gratuitous, all caps “THANKS” re the comments. It shouts. And, it’s especially annoying when you are answering comments with which you don’t agree.
Regarding MCT Gold and Coconut Oil, I think Pooti is trying to save you from exposure to practicing medicine without a degree. You’re very quick to present a supposition as a fact–just as you accuse the anti-fat folks of doing. I see Tim Naughton doing the same thing on his new blog. It would better serve the low-carbers if each assertion were backed up by the relevent studies. As it is, all you guys are quoting each other.
You keep saying that your lipids are spectacular, but even Dr. Davis, who supports the particle size LDL distinction, would say that your LDL is way too high. Do you have your head in the sand about this?
Before you start, I agree that your lipids are probably much better than they were when you weighed over 400 pounds.
Paula, I appreciate your comments. On the issue of using THANKS, that’s something I’ve done for years and is nothing more than putting the emphasis on the word that means the most. Don’t read into my use of it as anything more than sincere gratitude to the people who read and comment on my blog. That’s all it is, my friend.
As for practicing medicine without a degree, I don’t ever pretend to give anyone medical advice. You can read my clearly displayed Disclaimer for yourself and see that I clearly tell people who I am and what this blog and all my affiliated sites are about. If people choose to use the information I provide to better themselves, then that’s great. If they choose not to use the information I provide, I don’t mind either. It’s what a blog is all about.
Paula, I’m not sure what blog you are reading, but I often name the research and studies here at LLVLC that back up what I say and will actually be including much of it in my new book as well. Is there something bothering you about the way I run my blog? You have every right in the world to start your own blog if you think me and Tom Naughton aren’t doing it good enough for your tastes. The more voices, the merrier.
As for having my head in the sand on my LDL, it’s true Dr. William Davis and even Dr. Michael Ozner both noted that my LDL particle number was high in their medical opinion. But my low-carb physician Dr. Eric Westman along with other low-carb health experts I know like Dr. Mary C. Vernon, Dr. James E. Carlson, Dr. Jeff Volek, Dr. Richard Feinman, Dr. Jay Wortman, and many others I could list here all say my NMR Lipoprofile test results showing the Small LDL-P as a mere 30 is indeed stellar. That’s a fact.
I appreciate your comments, Paula, but it sounds like you have a lot of personal issues against me for some reason that defies logic or reason. I don’t know you and you don’t know me, so what’s with all the angry interrogation and snarky attitude? My job here is merely to offer information rooted in personal experience to help people in their own journey to better health. Why are you so opposed to something as noble as this?
–Jimmy
Fatty liver and medium chain triglyceride (MCT) diet. This 12yr old epileptic boy was a particularly disabled child and I really don’t think we should read too much into one isolated exception to the normal.
It is also worth mentioning, at that time, it is possible the child was on a ketogenic diet with 60% possibly even as much as 75% of energy from MCT see TYPES OF KETOGENIC DIET.
While it may be necessary and desirable to take that level of MCT to prevent epileptic fits I do not that that is what you or anyone else here are doing. Therefore, I think it is wrong to extrapolate from this one particular extreme example and imply the general use of MCT and/or coconut oil most normal adults use in conjunction with a low carb diet, may exacerbate NAFLD.
Indeed this
The effect of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease shows a low carb ketogenic diet leads to improvement in NAFLD and there are other examples of MCT actually being used to treat NAFLD.
I am sure most readers here will be aware of the potential for Water Intoxication but that does not stop us recommending regular water consumption may aid a Low Carbohydrate diet.