Virgin Coconut Oil Helps Reduce Diabetes

by Brian Shilhavy
Health Impact News Editor

A new study from India published in the Journal of Food Science Technology showed positive results in improving glucose metabolism in high fructose diets in rats.

Coconut oil is a common dietary oil in South India, so the researchers wanted to compare the common refined copra-based coconut oil found in the market place with the less-refined “virgin” coconut oil which has become more readily available in recent years.

The results were very promising. The researchers found that glucose metabolism only increased 17% in a high-fructose diet as compared to 46% for those rates fed a standard coconut oil diet.

The study abstract is found here. (Virgin coconut oil maintains redox status and improves glycemic conditions in high fructose fed rats)

Curing Diabetes with Virgin Coconut Oil Testimonials

Being the first one to import a “virgin” coconut oil from the Philippines to the United States back in 2001, we soon found out this truth about Virgin Coconut Oil helping with diabetes from our online user discussion groups over the years. Here are a few of them:

Indeed Virgin Coconut Oil has a substantial effect on blood sugar levels. My wife and daughter (both have type 2 diabetes) measure their blood sugar levels at least three times a day. When they eat the wrong foods and their blood sugar levels get to 80-100 points above normal, they don’t take extra medication, they take 2-3 tablespoons of the coconut oil directly from the bottle. Within a half hour their blood sugar levels will come back to normal. Ed, Coconut Diet Forums

One day reading a newsletter, I ran across an article mentioning that Coconut Oil was used to regulate blood sugar levels. So on November 7, 2003, I ordered 2 quarts of the Virgin Coconut Oil. I began taking one tablespoon a day at dinner. My yearly blood test was done on January 2, 2004. When I saw my MD on January 13, 2004, he was pleased to see that my blood sugar levels were now in the normal range, and told me that they’d been that way for a few months. I was ecstatic! I’ve been using Tropical Traditions Coconut oil since, and my blood sugars have stayed in the normal range ever since. Thank you so much for making such a wonderful, healthy food source available to us! Beth, Coconut Diet Forums

As a physician of many diabetics, I am constantly telling them how to eat more healthily but was unable to follow my own advice. I knew WHAT to do, but feeling like I had the wherewithal to practice what I preached was a different matter! I knew my patients didn’t take my advice seriously enough, since I wasn’t treating my own body right and was clinically “morbidly obese.” My hunger and cravings have been my downfall for years leading me to donuts, cookies and other unhealthy foods I knew to stay away from. I was constantly hungry. When I heard that adding [healthy] oils like Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil could help satisfy my run-away hunger and cravings, I was skeptical. I knew if it could help even ME, then there would be something to the claims! No one was more surprised than me when I felt satisfied for hours after spreading some on my morning toast, or enjoying a tablespoon in my oatmeal. My wife loves to make our family sugar free chocolate balls using this wonderful oil, and I am still amazed that something so delicious is actually good for me! I have more energy, been able to exercise for longer periods of time, and have now lost 36 pounds! Mark -an M.D. in New Mexico

Getting Over the Fat-Phobia Propaganda

Much of the dramatic increase in diabetes in modern society can be attributed to USDA dietary guidelines issued back in the 1970s that blamed heart disease on saturated fats. That theory, the lipid theory of heart disease, has been totally discredited by modern research.

What replaced healthy saturated fats, such as the tropical oils including coconut oil, healthy unprocessed dairy, and healthy animal fats, were refined carbohydrates and toxic polyunsaturated oils which had to be hydrogenated to remain shelf stable. That process of hydrogenating vegetable oils, primarily oils derived from soy and corn, two highly subsidized crops in the U.S. which have only been in the food chain post WWII due to expeller-pressed technology, creates toxic trans-fats which have now been shown to be very unhealthy and linked to many diseases.

For more information about the healthy benefits of clean saturated fats and coconut oil in particular, as well as the problems with toxic vegetable oils, see the research at CoconutOil.com. This is the oldest and largest body of collected research on coconut oil on the Internet.

Therefore, the best results in terms of diabetes that we have seen from user testimonials over the years has been from those who replaced toxic vegetable oils with healthier fats such as coconut oil, and reduced their refined carbohydrate intake with higher amounts of healthy fats in their diet.

For more information on a low-carb high-fat diet, look at the tremendous body of research on the ketogenic diet and its health benefits. The ketogenic diet was originally developed at Johns Hopkins back in the 1920s to cure childhood epilepsy, but then fell out of favor when the USDA dietary guidelines condemned saturated fats in the 1970s. Many “fad” diets have been patterned after the original ketogenic diet in recent years, including the Atkins Diet and Paleo Diet.