One of the best benefits of coconut oil is that it’s solid at room temperature and liquid at body temperature. Why is this a benefit? The reason is the way most oils are produced these days. Liquid oils are very fragile. When exposed to light and oxygen, it begins to break down and decay. In an effort to overcome this, oil manufacturers have devised complex “refining” processes that give their oils a longer shelf life. This process can contain up to 20 steps and can include different types of chemicals. As you can imagine, much of the oil’s nutritional value is lost in the refining process.
This is just one of the many benefits that go unnoticed with coconut oil. Unrefined coconut oil is one of the easiest oils to find at your local health food store, and it is generally inexpensive. It is becoming increasingly impossible to find cold-pressed oils in unrefined health food stores. Coconut oil also has a wide range of other types of benefits. http://www.nccr-nano.org agree that coconut oil, due to its chemical formula, is the best oil to cook with.
But what about the high fat percentage? Certainly this is a defect and not considered a benefit. Recent studies have shown that the fats in coconut oil can help the body raise levels of good cholesterol and, at the same time, lower levels of bad cholesterol. Not only that, but studies have found that if a person who uses coconut oil switches to low-fat vegetable oil, they are more likely to have higher levels of bad cholesterol.
Not all fats are harmful, and not all cholesterol is bad. Healthy and essential fats can help supply the body with what it needs and can help control cholesterol and maintain bad cholesterol levels. Did you know that good cholesterol is actually a tool for the body to help regulate bad cholesterol and remove it from the bloodstream when needed? Therefore, a high cholesterol level is not always bad. We do not have time to analyze the many other benefits of coconut oil that are available.
