l 17 Indian Coconut Journal

Coconut-the best food forhuman beings' health and

longevityProfessor B. M. Hegde*

hegdebm@gmail.com

“He who desires, but acts not,breeds pestilence.” William Blake

The imaginary, man made,cholesterol myth has been the

greatest curse of mankind since theend of the Second World War. Morepeople have met their maker inheaven worrying about cholesterol-that white, tasteless and odourlesspowder-which forms the very coreof human body. Cholesterol formsthe hydrophobic cell wall of everyhuman body cell of which there areone hundred thousand billion in allat a given time. Millions of bodycells die everyday and are to bereplaced by new cells. Man iscompletely new once in threemonths. “No man could get into thesame river twice,” wrote an Englishpoet who might have had correctscientific intuition. Cholesterollowering drugs, expensive as theyare, have been a bigger curse. Everysingle such drug, since the originalcholestyramine to the latest statins,has resulted in higher total mortalityin the long term studies comparedto the placebo. In short, cholesterollowering drugs could possiblychange the label in the deathcertificate of patients withoutchanging the date of death: theymight even advance the date!

But, thanks to the drug companypropaganda and their capacity to

Of course, coconut oil is a fatand has some saturated fat init. Majority of the saturated

fat in the coconut oil ismedium chain and short chainfatty acids (good for humans)and only a small part is longchain. One would do well to

avoid deep fried foods as theyconvert any oil, burning at160 degree centigrade, toincorporate free oxygen

radicals into the fat to convertthe fat into hydroxy-fat that is

dangerous to the bloodvessels.

brain wash doctors, cholesterollowering drugs are the biggest tillmovers for them netting billions ofdollars business annually. Naturally,they would not like to break their“rice-bowl”. If the reader wants toknow more about the cunning waysof the drug companies he/she isbetter advised to read the followingtwo books, in addition to thethousands of scientific articles in theworld literature and also in thespecial web site: www.thincs.org.The books are: The Truth AboutDrug Companies: How TheyDeceive Us and What to do aboutit? by Marcia Angell, a professor atHarvard, and the former Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journalof Medicine. (Random House 2005Publications) and OverdoSedAmerica by Dr. John Abramson(Harper Collins 2005 publication).

There is no cholesterol inanything that is vegetarian.Therefore, coconut oil can not haveany cholesterol. This is another liespread by the business interests tosell their Soya and other refined oils.In fact, all refined oils, especially theones with long shelf life are very badfor human health. Time was whenmargarine was sold as the best fatreplacing butter. The former musthave helped all countries to lowertheir population. Now the slogan is

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18 lFebruary 2009

butter is better! In fact, the first everDiet Heart Study in Framingham(1954-59) did not find anyconnection between fat in food andheart disease. The study never sawthe light of the day in print as it wasnot good for the business. Now weknow that what eats one (thenegative thoughts) kills more oftenthan what one eats.

Of course, coconut oil is a fat andhas some saturated fat in it. Majorityof the saturated fat in the coconutoil is medium chain and short chainfatty acids (good for humans) andonly a small part is long chain. Onewould do well to avoid deep friedfoods as they convert any oil,burning at 160 degree centigrade, toincorporate free oxygen radicals intothe fat to convert the fat intohydroxy-fat that is dangerous to theblood vessels. But coconut oil whichis fresh is one of the best foods thatmankind could consume. PolynesianIslanders, who were taking almost80% of their total calorie intake perday from the coconut tree in thedistant past never had heart attacksand they lived to very old age. Nowthat they have become US citizensthey have precocious coronary heartdiseases. Same is true of the literateIndians who have changed to otheroils recently. They have been gettingprecocious heart ailments!

Coconut oil is known to protect

human beings against certaincancers also. The type and quantityof fat matters a lot in the growth ofthe ubiquitous rogue cell in thehuman body, the seed of all futurecancers. It is here that coconut oilplays a vital role in discouraging therogue cell from growing further.Most rogue cells die a natural deathin time. Scientific discoveries haveshown the most powerful anti-germproperties of this great food-coconut.

50% of the saturated fat in thecoconut oil is Lauric Acid, a mediumchain acid, which gets converted tomono laurin in the human body. Thelatter kills viruses (HIV, cyto-megaloviruses, Herpes virus, andInfluenza virus) many bacteria(listeria, H.pylori) and even protozoalike giardia Lamblia. Another 6-7%is Capric acid, another mediumchain fatty acid as powerful as theformer Laurin to kill all kinds ofgerms. I find it difficult to finddandruff and fungus infections inmost Kerala girls who use coconutoil regularly for bath as well as torub on their skins. Monolaureates areonly found in mother’s milk otherthan coconut oil. lf coconut oil is badmother’s milk must be very bad!

To sum up let me quote a studyin the leading medical journal TheLancet of 22nd April 1989, whichshowed in a study of French elderlywomen staying in Nursing Homes

that those ladies with the highestcholesterol levels lived the longest.In addition, it also showed thatdeaths were five times more in thoseelderly ladies with lowestcholesterol levels compared to thosewith high levels.

90% of our serum cholesterol ismanufactured in our own livers tohelp keep us alive and only 10%comes from the food, a very smallcontribution indeed. All drugs thatlower cholesterol, by force damageliver functions definitely! Readerscould get more details from my website where many other scientificpapers of mine in this field are listed.www.bmhegde.com That said, I musthasten to add that any fat, even thegood ones like coconut oil and gheeshould be taken with care. The totalfat intake should not form more than20% of our total calorie requirementper day. Fried food is bad for health.Long live mankind and his friend thecoconut tree, kalpvriksha.

“Anyone who stops learning is oldwhether at twenty or at eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”Henry Ford.

*MD, FRCP (London), FRCP(Edinburgh), FRCP (Glasgow), FRCPI(Dublin) FACC, FAMS./Former VisitingProf. of Cardiology, London University./Prof. Human Health, University of NorthernColorado, USA,/Retired Vice Chancellor,Manipal University and former Dean,Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore.

Know your oil-Coconut OilThe oil has high levels of saturated fats, but more than 2/3 of these fats are medium chain triglycerides which

are pretty healthy. This is good oil for frying foods as it is stable at high temperatures. Coconut oil does not getstored in the body easily and be used to induce weight loss. Despite high levels of saturated fats, it is good forhealth as long as it is not refined or hydrogenated.

Source: www.cseindia.org/oil_type.htm#know

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