Eating just one meal high in saturated fat - in this case, carrot cake and a milkshake - can quickly prevent "good" cholesterol from protecting the body against clogged arteries, a small study shows.



Full article: http://apnews.myway.com//article/200...D8JBRI480.html



Think this bit of news might convince anyone that "just one cheeseburger" really does matter to your health?

Hm, so coconut oil is bad again? I can't keep it all straight!

Coconut oil is not bad! Just remember to eat a varied diet and have everything, including your saturated fats, in moderation.



Anyway, my impression was not that they were trying to suggest coconut oil is bad, but that was just the example of a saturated fat they used for their study. They did do well enough to mention that sat fat comes mostly from animal foods.

Why do people use coconut oil anyway?

There are so many oil choices out there that arenot saturated fats.

Not trying to be an ass here but I am curious as to why people choose that oil in the first place.

I have never used it for anything so I have no idea if it imparts any special qualities.

Coconut anything send me right to the ER though so that is why I hve never so much as tried it.

How is one cheesburger less saturated fat moderation than, say, something fried in coconut oil. A lot of VB members seems to use coconut oil exclusively and probably well exceed the amount of saturated fat in a cheesburger daily.

I don't use coconut oil for anything.... I use coconut milk on rare occasion.



Saturated fat is bad, whether it comes from coconuts or beef. Everything in moderation, however, is ok.

Apparently I'm not one of the convinced.

According to the coconut people, coconut saturated fat is not equal to animal saturated fat.



This study seems to contradict that, but I also wonder what else these people were eating. I think that a bit of coconut oil would work differently in a vegan diet compared to an omni diet already high in sat fat.

>>Why do people use coconut oil anyway?>>



Coconut oil is highly saturated (moreso than lard) and is thus solid at room temperature. It is great in recipies that are supposed to be "creamy" or buttery.



>>Apparently I'm not one of the convinced.>>



Convinced about what? Why would coconut oil be healthier than animal fats?



>>I think that a bit of coconut oil would work differently in a vegan diet compared to an omni diet already high in sat fat.>>



And a small amount of cheeseburgers would work differently in an otherwise vegan diet compared to the SAD.



ebola

I mean apparently I'm not convinced that this one small study, which appears to suggest that in the case of saturated fat, "moderation in all things" is not a good rule after all, should trump my general rule of moderation in all things. I'm not entirely sure that there's any nutritional difference between a small amount of coconut oil and the same amount of sat fat from a piece of beef.



However, just because two foods have similar sat fat levels doesn't automatically mean one can conclude they are nutritionally equivalent. Colin Campell's early rat studies suggested that there is something about animal protein itself that promotes cancer growth, while plant protein does not. That's one example of how plant and animal foods can be very different aside from the fat content. There could potentially be a thousand reasons why coconut oil might be healthier than beef. So I would think it's entirely possible that coconut oil may be fine in moderation, but not cheeseburgers.

Ahh I see thank you, I just use no transfat veggie shortning myself

Coconut oil can take higher temperatures than other oils without degrading. It imparts a subtle sweet taste to vegan baked goods, along with giving them a wonderful, flaky crust. And health-wise, the main cooking oil of South India is coconut oil, and the people over there are not dropping like flies to heart disease. There's evidence that one of the main constituents in coconut oil, lauric acid, actually has a heart protective effect. But this is for *non-refined* coconut oil.



When I lived in Miami, I thrived on coconut milk, non-refined coconut oil, coconut shreds, the works! My arteries were and are just fine. My cholesterol is 118. Coconut oil can totally be a part of a healthy vegan or vegetarian diet.

Coconut oil has a lot of saturated fat and should be used sparingly.

Ayrlin, oils are selected for the different tastes they impart. Coconut oil has an appealing sweet taste and goes well in Thai dishes (as does peanut oil!) Olive oil is used in Italian, Greek, Spanish, Turkish, North African, and other Mediterranean dishes. Canola and corn oil have a lighter flavor. There are many other types of tasty vegan oils to try!

Tesseract,

Thanks for posting the study. I hope we haven't run your thread off too far with all the pros and cons of coconut oil! We should all just be glad we don't eat meat, greasy fries, milkshakes, etc... the typical deadly American diet!

I have to admit my intent in posting it was to talk about how or whether we think this news might affect the eating habits of people generally, rather than go off on coconut oil. To me, the fact that they used coconut oil for the study was incidental.

>>I mean apparently I'm not convinced that this one small study, which appears to suggest that in the case of saturated fat, "moderation in all things" is not a good rule after all>>



Me neither, especially considering that the report did not explore the long term ramifications of the observed effects of saturated fats.



>>That's one example of how plant and animal foods can be very different aside from the fat content. There could potentially be a thousand reasons why coconut oil might be healthier than beef. So I would think it's entirely possible that coconut oil may be fine in moderation, but not cheeseburgers.>>



This is true, but we'd need to see research looking specifically at the difference between saturated plant and animal fats.



>>I just use no transfat veggie shortning myself>>



This is very like made of palm and/or coconut oil.



ebola

That pretty much sums up just about everything I've read concerning coconut oil, too. Refined/hydrgenated coconut oil = bad, non-refined/non-hydrgenated coconut oil = good. I only wish the article were a bit more clear on what type of CO was used and whether it was refined/hydrogenated or not. Too bad they don't give the study publication's reference, it would have been great reading, I think.