By Brian Shilhavy
Health Impact News Editor

Once again, research into the health benefits of coconut oil is mainly being done outside of the U.S., primarily in coconut-producing countries. Here in the U.S., only pharmaceutical drugs can make health claims, by law. The FDA regulates all health claims, and only allows pharmaceutical companies that have gone through the lengthy and costly drug approval process to make such claims. No company in the U.S. would spend that kind of money on research for a product found in nature that cannot be patented.

A study just published in the journal Lipids in Health and Disease looked at Malaysian women suffering from breast cancer. The study authors stated the purpose for the study in the abstract: “the disease and its treatment can disrupt the lives of the woman and adversely affect all aspects of life and thus can alter a woman’s quality of life. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of virgin coconut oil (VCO) on the quality of life (QOL) of patients diagnosed with breast cancer.”

The study looked  at 60 women with stage III and stage IV breast cancer. Thirty women were randomly assigned to a control group with no virgin coconut oil supplementation, and 30 women were randomly assigned to the intervention group that did receive virgin coconut oil.

The results? According to the abstract:

There were significant mean score differences for functioning and global Quality Of Life between groups. The intervention group also had better scores for symptoms including fatigue, dyspnea, sleep difficulties, and loss of appetite compared to the control group. Although there are deteriorations for sexual enjoyment, the intervention group exhibited improvement in breast functioning and symptom scores for body image, sexual function, future perspective, breast symptoms, and systemic therapy side effects. Virgin Coconut Oil consumption during chemotherapy helped improve the functional status and global Quality Of Life of breast cancer patients. In addition, it reduced the symptoms related to side effects of chemotherapy. (Source.)

It should be noted that much research has also been done in coconut-producing countries regarding the various methods of producing coconut oil, and a wet-milled virgin coconut oil that uses some heat in the process has been determined to contain the highest amounts of anti-oxidants. (See: What Type of Coconut Oil is Best? How to Choose a Coconut Oil) For those seeking to use coconut oil for therapeutic value, always seek the highest quality virgin coconut oil possible.

There has also been considerable research lately regarding the use of the ketogenic diet, a high-fat low-carb diet, in preventing and treating cancer. Virgin coconut oil is a key component in such a diet. For more information on the ketogenic diet, click here.

The cancer industry is a very profitable industry, and one that is closely regulated here in the U.S. Finding a cure and allowing existing known cures to be well-known is counter-productive to the $100 billion industry. To learn more about the cancer industry and unapproved but effective cures, see: The Cancer Industry is Too Prosperous to Allow a Cure and Unapproved but Effective Cancer Cures. These two articles are also now available together as a free eBook.

Reference

The effects of virgin coconut oil (vco) as supplementation on quality of life (qol) among breast cancer patients. Lipids in Health and Disease. 2014 Aug 27;13(1):139.

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