Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

[Marcus]

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil
The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.

The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia. As a result of these various health benefits of coconut oil, though its exact mechanism of action was unknown, it has been extensively used in Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicinal system.

Coconut oil is often preferred by athletes and body builders and by those who are dieting. The reason behind this being that coconut oil contains lesser calories than other oils, its fat content is easily converted into energy and it does not lead to accumulation of fat in the heart and arteries. Coconut oil helps in boosting energy and endurance, and enhances the performance of athletes.

Health benefits of coconut oil include the following:

Hair Care: Coconut oil is one of the best natural nutrition for hair. It helps in healthy growth of hair providing them a shinny complexion. Regular massage of the head with coconut oil ensures that your scalp is free of dandruff, lice, and lice eggs, even if your scalp is dry. Coconut oil is extensively used in the Indian sub-continent for hair care. It is an excellent conditioner and helps in the re-growth of damaged air. It also provides the essential proteins required for nourishing damaged hair. It is therefore used as hair care oil and used in manufacturing various conditioners, and dandruff relief creams. Coconut oil is normally applied topically for hair care.
Stress Relief: Coconut oil is very soothing and hence it helps in removing stress. Applying coconut oil to the head followed with a gentle massage helps in removing mental fatigue.
Skin Care: Coconut oil is excellent massage oil for the skin as well. It acts as an effective moisturizer on all types of skins including dry skin. The benefit of coconut oil on the skin is comparable to that of mineral oil. Further, unlike mineral oil, there is no chance of having any adverse side effects on the skin with the application of coconut oil. Coconut oil therefore is a safe solution for preventing dryness and flaking of skin. It also delays wrinkles, and sagging of skin which normally become prominent with age. Coconut oil also helps in treating various skin problems including psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections. Therefore coconut oil forms the basic ingredient of various body care products such as soaps, lotions, creams, etc., used for skin care.
Premature Aging: Coconut oil helps in preventing premature aging and degenerative diseases due to its antioxidant properties.
Heart Diseases: There is a misconception spread among many people that coconut oil is not good for the heart. This is because it contains a large quantity of saturated fats. However, coconut oil is beneficial for the heart. It contains about 50% lauric acid, which helps in preventing various heart problems including high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. The saturated fats present in coconut oil are not harmful as it happens in case of other vegetables oils. It does not lead to increase in LDL levels. It also reduces the incidence of injury in arteries and therefore helps in preventing atherosclerosis.
Weight Loss: Coconut oil is very useful in reducing weight. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Further, it increases the body metabolism by removing stress on pancreases, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.
Pancreatitis: Coconut oil is also believed to be useful in treating pancreatitis.
Digestion: Internal use of coconut oil occurs primarily as cooking oil. Coconut oil helps in improving the digestive system and thus prevents various stomach and digestion related problems including irritable bowel syndrome. The saturated fats present in coconut oil have anti microbial properties and help in dealing with various bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc., that cause indigestion. Coconut oil also helps in absorption of other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
Immunity: Coconut oil is also good for the immune system. It strengthens the immune system as it contains antimicrobial lipids, lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia.
Healing: When applied on infections, it forms a chemical layer which protects the infected body part from external dust, air, fungi, bacteria and virus. Coconut oil is most effective on bruises as it speeds up the healing process by repairing damaged tissues.
Infections: Coconut oil is very effective against a variety of infections due to its antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial properties. According to the Coconut Research Center, coconut oil kills viruses that cause influenza, measles, hepatitis, herpes, SARS, etc. It also kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, etc. Coconut oil is also effective on fungi and yeast that cause candidiasis, ringworm, athlete's foot, thrush, diaper rash, etc.
Liver: The presence of medium chain triglycerides and fatty acids helps in preventing liver diseases as they substances are easily converted into energy when they reach the liver, thus reducing work load on the liver and also preventing accumulation of fat.
Kidney: Coconut oil helps in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases. It also helps in dissolving kidney stones.
Diabetes: Coconut oil helps in controlling blood sugar, and improves the secretion of insulin. It also helps in effective utilization of blood glucose, thereby preventing and treating diabetes.
Bones: As mentioned earlier, coconut oil improves the ability of our body to absorb important minerals. These include calcium and magnesium which are necessary for development of bones. Thus coconut oil is very useful to women who are prone to osteoporosis after middle age.
Dental Care: Calcium is an important element present in teeth. Since coconut oil facilitates absorption of calcium by the body, it helps in getting strong teeth. Coconut oil also stops tooth decay.
HIV and Cancer: It is believed that coconut oil plays an instrumental role in reducing viral susceptibility of HIV and cancer patients.
Further Reading:
Characteristics of Organic Coconut Oil
How is Virgin Coconut Oil Manufactured?
What is Extra Virgin Coconut Oil?

[swati123]

Thanks for all this info on virgin coconut oil i have been too useing MeritVCO virgin cococnut oil extracted from coconut oil by excelcombine. i have collect few more info about this oil.. from there site..

MeritVCO is rich in medium chain fatty acids, particularly Lauric Acid. Lauric acid is the same fatty acid found in mother's milk that provides immunity to babies. Among the benefits of VCO  Virgin Coconut oil  are it promotes weight-loss by increasing metabolism, boosts the immune system, it has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties and it has good moisturizing properties as well.
using virgin coconut oil can help you with thyroid problem, make your skin glow, reduce weight and reduces cholesterol
 
VCO  Virgin Coconut oil  may be taken internally as a food supplement. Used for cooking or baking, applied topically as a moisturizer for the skin and hair, and may be used as a base oil for many cosmetic products like soaps and creams (and since our VCO Virgin Coconut oil ) is cold processed, it will produce pure white and unscented beauty products without the burnt smell and brownish color of heated coconut oil.

Uses of MeritVCO Virgin Coconut Oil

Virgin coconut oil possesses antibacterial and antiviral properties which can be very beneficial to our health. There are many ways that at home we can use a natural product for treating ourselves and not have to spend a lot of money on medicaments that affect us eventually with all the chemical formulation interferences.

Virgin coconut oil is a natural oil that can be used both internally and externally. It is recommended that you need to take at least 3 tablespoons a day. Taking this dose will help you tremendously against many ailments.

Skin diseases can be frustrating…from fungal infections to chronic psoriasis….skin diseases can be frustrating. There are other skin problems which can be unsightly such as warts, blemishes, scars. They can have psychological effect on you. These diseases don't just cause discomfort, can also be embarrassing.

We all use countless of products such as ointments to ease discomfort of various skin discomfort. But we often forget or do not know that effective treatment can be done using coconut oil which is not well known.. It is an option one can try that is natural, effective, and not so costly.
Warm virgin coconut oil is excellent as massage oil. It can improve blood circulation. It soothes the muscle by virtue of its therapeutic properties. It can also increase the metabolism that rids off toxins through the skin. Because it is quickly absorbed by the skin, you can combine it with other oils for various other treatments.

High Fever: Massaging virgin coconut oil on whole body will lower body temperature.

For treatment of acne: virgin coconut oil will not make your face oily and greasy. It will clean the pores and clear your face due to its antimicrobial and antiviral properties.

Dry flaky skin: You can use virgin coconut oil for skin treatment frequently to keep your skin moist. Not only will your complexion improved, scars and discoloration on skin will also vanish. Many women have been successful in clearing stretch marks by using virgin coconut oil Virgin coconut oil can also be used as a sun tan oil lotion and sunscreen. It will make your skin more resistant to sun's rays decreasing your chance to have skin cancer. Since virgin coconut oil is absorbed fast into the skin, it does not allow the skin to be burnt. But care must be exercised not to allow yourself too long in the sun.

If you suffer from athlete's foot you can apply virgin coconut oil regularly to help you get rid of this problem.

Body Odor: With it antibacterial and antiviral properties, virgin coconut oil is useful in ridding you of bad body odour especially under the arm where microbial activities occur. It has also been stated through personal testimonials that herpes, gonorrhea, uninary tract infections, pneumonia have been cured using coconut oil.

Internal use of virgin coconut oil is more popular as a cooking oil. This oil helps in improving the digestive system. This helps prevent stomach and digestive related problems. The saturated fats present in virgin coconut oil have antibacterial properties that can fight against bacteria in the intestinal tracts.

Babies skin. Virgin coconut oil is helpful on babies skin. A close look at many baby oil products shows that they can contain mixture of mineral oil such as liquid petrolatum. Virgin coconut oil is clean natural product without chemical formulation can be relied upon for good protection of your babies' skin. For nappy rash, application of virgin coconut oil after every nappy change can moist the skin, control the rash and after a few days, you will notice that the rash has been cleared and leave the skin of the baby, moisturized, soft and supple.

As dandruff treatment, virgin coconut oil is useful and beneficial. It will sure leave the skin moist and will dampen the flakes. If head skin is feeling itchy as well, this oil will eradicate this problem

Against cold and flu, rub hot virgin coconut oil on the chest, head and nose. This will help against runny nose and relief of the block nose. You can also douse the head with coconut oil and rubbing in with fingertips and leave overnight if possible.

Virgin coconut oil is versatile. Apply coconut oil mix with peppermint oil on skin for an effective insect repellant. It can also be used to heal animal wounds

Using virgin coconut oil applied on open wound can be very effective by forming a protective layer which can shield against dust, air, fungi, bacteria and fungus. The damaged tissues are repaired faster.

Here is what you should see for an Extra Virgin Coconut Oil :
Colorless and crystal clear.
Light, fresh coconut aroma  
Natural Coconut taste
Quick absorption
No oily feel
Very light viscosity  

Advantages :
High purity: without refining.
Used as food oil as well as in high-end formulations.
Excellent in body care.
Long shelf life. 

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
No refining
No chemicals added
No bleaching
No deodorization
No hydrogenation
Made without heat processing

[swati123]

I just brought a bottle of MeritVCO extra virgin coconut oil .. below is a article and blog on benefits of coconut oil to alzheimers patients.

Please have a look at this blog.
http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/04/01/coconut-oil-and-alzheimers-disease/

Content has been taken from above blog link.
"Eneida Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 10:38 am
After Mom learned about Mary Newport ’s discovery in a Tampa newspaper article last year, we began the diet for my Dad (age 8 and suffering from vascular dementia . Two weeks after using the Extra Virgin Coconut oil he got up from bed and was back into his normal functions , going to the bathroom by himself and doing much better. After a month my Dad began remembering family members as normal and getting (mentally) more clear. After six months in the coconut oil , MCT and Omega 3 diet my Dad can remember and says his prayers and is more sociable. We do not give him any food containing vegetable oils, mayonaise, margarine, etc … The main ingredient we use in food preparation is Coconut (coconut milk, coconut oil, MCT oil) also extra virgin olive oil and the Omega 3, three times a day. He hasnt have a set back since he got in this diet and he no longer needs to use diappers. It has been a tremendous brake for Mom who is the main care taker…The doctor has said that my Dad has came back to who he was before. My Dad is hypersensitive to medications so he is mostly on supplements and vitamins. We give him alternative medicine for all his conditions and he is responding real well. Now all the family uses the Coconut diet as a regular diet since it is so healthy…"

[rosehabe]

I love the great info, excellent post.

[terrywinkle]

Interesting article, thank you for putting up such a nice article on this forum.

http://hometreatment.net/health-information/alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease/

[whyinsure]

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[whyinsure]

[tostosbe]

This review analyzes 39 weight-loss studies that focused on diets and lifestyle modifications. Of the 39 studies reviewed, only 11 produced significant lose lower stomach fat that was kept off for at least two years. The effective diets included low-fat, low-calorie and Weight Watchers plans. Weight Watchers was the only commercial diet mentioned as being an effective plan for weight loss.

[alexander10]

For treatment of acne: virgin coconut oil will not make your face oily and greasy. It will clean the pores and clear your face due to its antimicrobial and antiviral properties. This is effective for acne treatment.But i want to say at end that this is a great article in which every thing has defined.

[JESILINE]

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