Myth: You will lose weight simply by adding coconut oil to your existing diet
Nearly all dietary fats and oils are made up of triglycerides containing fatty-acid chains of differing lengths. Vegetable oils and animal fats are made up of long-chained triglycerides (LCTs). Coconut oil is different in that it's made up of 60-65 percent medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Your body absorbs and metabolizes the shorter chain length of MCTs much more quickly than LCTs. The result is increased energy expenditure”as compared to LCTs. MCTs also contain slightly fewer calories per gram than LCTs, at 8.3 calories per gram versus 9 calories per gram.
Basically, MCT-rich coconut oil can temporarily boost your metabolism and has fewer calories than other fats. This sounds like a home run for fat loss until you remember one major catch: You must substitute the coconut oil for an equal amount of the LCTs that are already in your diet. But if you're simply adding coconut oil to your existing diet, you're just adding extra calories that any potential thermogenic effect won't make up for.
Takeaway
To get any thermic or caloric advantage from coconut oil, you must swap out another fat source in your diet for an equal amount of coconut oil.
Myth: Coconut oil will boost your metabolism, helping you burn fat
While coconut oil has been called "the fat-burning fat," it doesn't have zero calories, and it's definitely not going to act like "negative calories" in your body. Being thermogenic only means that you will burn off a fraction of the extra calories you put in your body by eating it. The net calories you gain from coconut oil still count.
Takeaway
Even when eating a large dose of coconut oil, the thermogenic effect is extremely small. It's also been shown to phase out after a few weeks, making any meaningful weight loss over the long term unlikely.
Myth: Coconut oil gets immediately used for energy rather than being stored as fat, helping you resist weight gain
If you're looking for a source of immediate energy, coconut oil seems to make a lot of sense. Being made up mainly of MCTs, most of the fat from coconut oil is absorbed directly into the portal circulation and quickly sent to the liver to make energy. Unlike the long-chain fats, the majority of coconut oil is immediately turned into energy rather than being stored as body fat. This has many people believing that if they eat coconut oil, they won't gain weight.
Unfortunately, this logic doesn't hold up in the real world. Your diet doesn't just consist of MCTs! You also eat lots of carbs, protein, and other fat sources. Although most of the fat in coconut oil is a great source of immediate energy that might itself not be stored as fat, it prevents other sources of energy from being used in its place.
Takeaway
Although MCT-rich coconut oil is a source of immediate energy that itself may not be stored as fat, it prevents other sources of energy from being used in its place. Remember that to resist weight gain, you must eat fewer calories than you burn. You can't simply shortcut biology with nutrition trickery.
Myth: Coconut oil is a powerful appetite suppressant, helping you lose weight without trying
This is the weakest argument going for coconut oil. The power of ketones as a natural appetite suppressant is the driving force behind this myth. Ketones are created as a byproduct of the rapid metabolism of MCTs in coconut oil. They're both a potent energy source and a messenger that tells the brain you're full. In theory, the release of ketones sparked by coconut oil should help curb hunger and enable you to eat fewer calories with less effort. But again, this is a pretty simplistic understanding of nutrients. In the body things are much more complex, and your calorie intake and the rest of your diet will impact the amount of ketones created from the breakdown of MCTs.
Takeaway
The power of coconut-oil-derived ketones to curb hunger is minimal when considering the rest of the average person's diet. Unless you are very low carb, don't expect much”if any”effect.
So is coconut oil a scam?
The goal here isn't to make anyone anti-coconut oil. this popular fat has several big things going for it. For instance:
• It is more resistant to spoiling than other popular cooking fats.
• For vegans, it is an effective butter substitute in baking or sautéing.
• It has a light, slightly sweet flavor that pairs well with many dishes.
• As discussed above, it is slightly less calorically intensive than some other fats.
• Depending on where you get it, coconut oil is often minimally processed and more predictable than, say, soybean oil in its quality and sourcing.
In other words, coconut oil is good food. But that's the key: It's food! If you want to see its benefits, you'll need to make it one of many healthy choices in your diet, rather than a magic fat-loss bullet. Anything less is just wishful thinking.
