The benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintenance of cholesterol level, weight loss, stimulate the immune system, digestion and regulate metabolism. It also provides relief of kidney problems, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, while helping to improve the quality of teeth and bones. These advantages of the oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid and their respective properties, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti fungal, antibacterial and soothing qualities.
SOURCE
Coconut oil is used extensively in tropical countries, especially India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines etc., which have a good production of coconut oil. Some time ago, oil was also popular in western countries such as the United States and Canada, but there was a strong propaganda campaign in the 1970s by the corn and soy oil industry against coconut oil. Coconut oil was considered harmful to the human body due to its saturated fat content until the last decade (2000s) when people began to question the claims of propaganda. Next, let's look at some more details of how coconut oil works in our body.
How is Lauric Acid Used by Our Body?
The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, which is purportedly useful in the treatment of viruses and bacteria that cause diseases such as herpes, flu, cytomegalovirus and even HIV. It also helps in fighting against harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and helicobacter pylori and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia.
As a result of these various benefits of coconut oil for health, although its exact mechanism of action was unknown, it has been widely used in Ayurveda, the traditional medicinal system of the Indians. The Coco Research Center has compiled a list of possible benefits of coconut oil in traditional and modern medicine.
The Composition of Coconut Oil:
More than ninety percent of coconut oil is made up of saturated fats (do not panic! It's not as bad as it seems, read until the end of this analysis and you can change your opinion), along with traces of some unsaturated fatty acids , such as monounsaturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid. Virgin coconut oil is not different from this.
SOURCE
Saturated fatty acids: Most of them are medium chain triglycerides, which are supposed to assimilate well into the body's system. Lauric acid is the main contributor, accounting for more than forty percent of the total, followed by capric acid, caprylic acid, myristic acid and palmitic acid.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids: Linoleic acid.
Monounsaturated fatty acids: Oleic acid.
Poly-phenols: Coco contains gallic acid, which is also known as phenolic acid. Polyphenols are responsible for the fragrance and flavor of coconut oil and virgin coconut oil is rich in polyphenols.
Certain fatty acid derivatives such as betaines, ethanolamide, ethoxylates, fatty esters, fatty polysorbates, monoglycerides and polyol esters.
Fatty chloride, fatty alcohol sulfate and fatty alcohol sulfate ether, all are derived from fatty alcohols.
Vitamin E, vitamin K and minerals such as iron
The Benefits of Coconut Oil for Health
Hair care:
Coconut oil is one of the best natural nutrients for your hair. It helps in growing healthy hair and gives your hair a brilliant quality. It is very effective in reducing protein loss [2] which can lead to different unattractive or damaging qualities in your hair.
Coconut oil is used extensively in the Indian subcontinent for hair care. Most people in those countries apply coconut oil to their hair every day after bathing or showering. It is an excellent conditioner and helps the process of damaged hair growth. It also provides the essential proteins needed to nourish and heal damaged hair. A study [3] indicates that coconut oil offers better protection to hair against damage caused by hygral fatigue.
You can make sure that your scalp is free from dandruff if you would massage your head with coconut oil regularly even if your scalp is chronically dry. It also helps protect your hair and scalp free of lice and lice eggs.
Therefore coconut oil is used as hair care oil and is used in the manufacture of various conditioners and dandruff relief creams. Coconut oil is usually applied topically for hair care.
SOURCE
Skin Care
Coconut oil is an excellent massage oil for the skin as well. It acts as an effective moisturizer for all skin types, including dry skin. The benefit of coconut oil on the skin is comparable to that of mineral oil. Fortunately, unlike mineral oil, it is impossible to have adverse side effects on the skin if we apply coconut oil. Therefore, coconut oil is a safe solution to prevent dryness and peeling of the skin. It also delays the appearance of wrinkles and flaccidity of the skin that normally accompany aging. Coconut oil also helps in the treatment of various skin problems such as psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections. For that same reason, coconut oil forms the base ingredient of various body care products such as soaps, lotions and creams used for skin care. Coconut oil also helps prevent premature aging and degenerative diseases due to its known antioxidant properties.