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Liquid coconut oil also labeled MCT oil, is not a legitimate healthy fat and why these expensive, highly processed lipids that occur nowhere in nature are best avoided by smart consumers.
If there is one truism in the world of food manufacturing, it is this. If a particular whole food becomes popular with consumers, food manufacturers will figure out a way to adulterate and cleverly market it.
The endgame is fooling the average consumer into erroneously believing that this new fractionated food is “better” than the original.
This adage very accurately applies to the much-hyped supplement MCT oil. Manufacturers also shrewdly market it as liquid coconut oil for cooking purposes.
Both of these impostors have been popping up on health food store shelves sometimes boldly and inaccurately marketed as “better than coconut oil”.
Why Coconut Oil is a Fat Superstar
Coconut oil in its unprocessed, unfractionated state is one of the healthiest fats on the planet. It has nourished degenerative disease-free traditional cultures in Asia for centuries.
What’s more, these cultures suffered from essentially no heart disease. Thus, misguided accusations that coconut oil isn’t “heart healthy” are clearly false and completely unsupportable with anthropological evidence.
Coconut oil is loaded with beneficial fatty acids called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). These MCTs or MCFAs (medium chain fatty acids) do not need to be digested by bile salts.
These digestive juices are secreted by the liver and stored by the gall bladder.
Hint: this is why coconut oil is good for those who’ve had gall bladder surgery.
What’s more, MCTs are not typically stored by the body as fat as longer chain fats are. Instead, they are quickly converted to energy which makes them particularly suitable for weight loss.
Consumers have caught onto the benefits of coconut oil for weight loss and overall wellness in recent years. Numerous companies now market virgin and expeller pressed versions for a variety of culinary uses.
MCT Oil is a Factory Food
Some companies are marketing impostor products trying to ride the wave of coconut oil popularity. Coconut oil processed into wannabes like MCT oil or liquid coconut oil becomes something else entirely, and for the consumer, it is definitely not for the better.
When I first saw liquid coconut oil on the shelf of my local health food store, I thought, “What in the world is this? A coconut oil that stays liquid in the refrigerator and is “excellent” for cooking?” I secretly wondered and knew that something fishy was going on.
Anyone familiar with coconut oil knows that it is a solid fat at temperatures below 76 F/ 24 C.
If the coconut oil stays liquid all the time, even in the refrigerator, that is your clue that it is fake.
Similarly, I was receiving emails from readers who were using MCT oil, the supplement version of liquid coconut oil, instead of actual coconut oil for weight loss and other health purposes.
Things just didn’t seem on the up and up to me, so I started to sniff around…
Dregs from Fractionated Coconut Oil
The dominant medium chain fatty acid in coconut oil is lauric acid, comprising 50% of the total fat content. It is no exaggeration to call lauric acid a superstar of fats, as it has scientifically proven antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Our human digestion converts lauric acid into monolaurin which defends us against viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogens. In short, lauric acid is a huge boon to the immune system.
Lauric acid is not only one of the healthiest fatty acids on the planet, it is highly elusive as well. Made only by the mammary gland in humans and available in small amounts in butterfat and significant amounts in palm kernel oil and coconut oil, this beneficial fat is not widely found in nature.
The trouble with MCT Oil
People want lauric acid for the health benefits, but personal care manufacturers want it too for enhancing the quality of their products.
Isolated lauric acid functions as a skin conditioning agent. It is an inert and stable emollient used in creams, ointments, lotions, and lipsticks. Lauric acid slows the loss of water from the skin by forming a barrier on the skin’s surface.
It also alters the thickness of liquids acting as a viscosity controlling agent and provides surface glide by promoting color dispersion in finished products.
This is why lauric acid is removed from coconut oil and sold off for manufacturing purposes to personal care companies.
What’s left when the highly saturated lauric acid (and potentially a few other highly saturated fatty acids too depending on the manufacturer) with a melting point of 110F/ 43C is removed from coconut oil?
You guessed it!
MCT oil, which is sold as a supplement, and liquid coconut oil, sold for cooking. They are both the same thing, in essence, the coconut oil “dregs”.
MCT Oil Manufacturing
Another problem with MCT oil and its cooking counterpart liquid coconut oil is the manufacturing.
The forcible removal of lauric acid from coconut oil is not an easy process. You could not do it yourself at home!
It typically requires chemical recombination of refined fatty acids in coconut oil with a synthetic vegetable-based ester.
Chemical residues in the resulting MCT oil would be a definite concern as a result.
A more natural process is molecular distillation of virgin coconut oil. This method involves no chemicals and is a physical process only.
While MCT oil manufactured in this manner would be nontoxic and safe to consume, it is important to note that MCT or liquid coconut oil is not found anywhere in nature.
As such, regular consumption would have unknown health consequences.
To obtain the full health and weight loss benefits of MCTs in the proper proportions as found in nature, you need to consume virgin coconut oil, and if you need one with no taste, expeller-pressed coconut oil.
Don’t fall for the MCT oil scam! It is a manmade product found nowhere in nature.
Liquid Coconut Oil Scam
The reason I suspect that liquid coconut oil is marketed as “better than coconut oil for cooking” is that it stays liquid even when refrigerated.
However, while this is better for convenience, it is not better from a health perspective especially considering that coconut oil itself doesn’t need to be refrigerated due to high resistance to rancidity even in very hot climes.
For example, I keep large buckets of coconut oil in my garage which regularly gets over 100 F/28 C during summer days, and it keeps perfectly for months on end.
Note also that the most beneficial and elusive fat of all in coconut oil, lauric acid, is completely absent from liquid coconut oil.
Two saturated fatty acids primarily remain…caprylic acid and capric acid.
Dairy foods, particularly goat milk and cheese, contain these fats naturally.
The other fats remaining in MCT oil/liquid coconut oil are oleic acid (the primary fat in olive oil) and linoleic acid found in vegetable oils.
Higher Percentage of Heat Unstable Fats
While oleic acid is heat stable and fine for cooking, linoleic acid definitely is not!
Removing lauric acid and other high melting point saturated fats from coconut oil results in a lipid that is no longer ideal for cooking.
It is a far worse choice than virgin or expeller-pressed coconut oil.
The reason is because it contains a much larger percentage of heat unstable fats. What’s more, the longer-chain vegetable fats encourage weight gain, not weight loss.
Would liquid coconut oil be a better choice than vegetable oils? In that case, I would agree. Vegetable oils like soy, corn and even canola would be far worse choices for cooking than liquid coconut oil. But when compared with true blue coconut oil, the scammy “liquid” versions pale by comparison.
Do yourself a favor, if you want to experience the benefits of coconut oil for cooking or weight loss, use the real thing. Skip the cleverly marketed liquid coconut oil versions.
MCT Oil and Liquid Coconut Oil Aren’t Cheap!
As if not being as good as real coconut oil isn’t enough, food manufacturers have the gall to charge a fortune for MCT oil and liquid coconut oil.
Sometimes the price tag is higher than a quality jar of virgin coconut oil itself!
This is one trick that manufacturers use to make you “believe” that their factory foods are better than the real thing.
MCT Oil is similarly priced, at or higher than the same amount of real, authentic virgin coconut oil.
You get the dregs and pay more for the “privilege”. Nice huh?
What about MCT Oil with Lauric Acid?
While most MCT oil on the market has no lauric acid whatsoever, I have seen some brands of MCT oil recently where there is some lauric acid present.
This means that manufacturers removed only some of the lauric acid (and sold it off for industrialized purposes).
The lauric acid amount present is not at the same high percentage as in unadulterated coconut oil, however.
If you remember the discussion from above, virgin and expeller pressed coconut oil are approximately 50% lauric acid. MCT oil with lauric acid contains far less.
The highest I’ve seen to date is 30%. Some brands do not list how much lauric acid is present at all!
One thing is for sure. If the MCT oil or liquid coconut oil stays fluid in the refrigerator, it doesn’t have much lauric acid in it.
Also, remember the problem with chemical residues in MCT oil if it wasn’t extracted using a physical process only.
The bottom line is that MCT oil is a manmade factory fat. It occurs nowhere in nature.
It doesn’t occur naturally in nature and using it regularly won’t produce the health benefits and weight loss results of using the real thing: coconut oil.
Isn’t MCT Oil Best for Alzheimer’s?
There’s been quite a bit of buzz in recent years surrounding MCT oil and its application in Alzheimer’s reversal using lipids.
It is true that MCTs are the active ingredient in Axona, a popular drug for those with Alzheimer’s Disease.
It is highly doubtful that MCTs are better than virgin coconut oil (VCO) for this purpose, however!
Dr. Bruce Fife, author of Stop Alzheimer’s Now, recommends VCO instead of MCT oil or MCT drugs such as Axona because the drugs become ineffective over time, wear off quickly, have side effects, and cause free radical damage to the cells. And, MCT oil on its own is an adulterated, inferior form of coconut oil.
When the MCTs in virgin coconut oil are converted into ketones they act as a super fuel for the brain. This super fuel provides energy to the brain as well as stimulates healing and repair. Hence, these fatty acids are very important for those who espouse the keto diet.
And, don’t forget. Lauric acid is the most beneficial MCT of all and yet is absent in most MCT oil brands on the market or in significantly reduced amounts.
Go for the real thing and you won’t ever be disappointed down the road that clever marketing has somehow cost you your health or failed to produce the wellness results you seek.
References
(1) MCT Oil Manufacture
(2) Eat Fat Lose Fat
(3) Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
(4) Stop Alzheimer’s Now
More Information
Coconut Oil Capsules: As Effective as Straight Up?
How to Use Coconut Oil for Weight Loss
When Coconut Oil May Not Be Right for You
Hi Sarah, greetings from France!
I was wondering, is Wilderness Family Naturals organic expeller pressed coconut oil the best/healthiest choice that I can get for sautéeing and panfrying?
Thanks!
That is a very good brand that I use myself. I love it.
I started to wonder when a sticker on the top of the MCT I got on Amazon said that it’s known to cause birth defects.
Thank you for this post. I’ve been wondering about the liquid coconut oil I’ve seen at the store. I figured something wasn’t quite right since coconut oil is solid. This is the first time I’ve seen this product addressed.
Do you think the liquid coconut oil is still beneficial fur skin care and oil pulling?
Sure, it’s fine for those purposes … just very overpriced and not as beneficial as the good stuff .. virgin coconut oil.
So what should I do with my MCT oil that I have? If you say that it is slightly better than Canola Oil, I only use that oil for popping popcorn – is it OK for that usage? Or perhaps I should only use it to bake my dogs treats? Ugh… just wasted $25. :0(
Use it up as you like. Popcorn sounds like a good idea. Just get the real thing next time .. 100% unadulterated virgin coconut oil 🙂
To claim coconut oil is a whole food while MCT oil is not is not very accurate. The processing steps required to extract coconut oil from coconut meat are far greater then to get from coconut oil to MCT. If your aim is to consume whole foods you certainly should avoid coconut oil altogether and stick to eating coconut itself.
Would like to see your references for this claim? Coconut oil is very easily extracted from the meat. Traditional cultures have done it for centuries with no factories … just hand presses and the like. Did you see the reference in the article as to how MCT oil is produced? Not so simple. You’re also not considering that MCT oil is not a whole food and coconut oil absolutely is. MCT oil is a fractionated fat.
Thank you for the research – I too was “pulled in” by all the hype, but when I did my elementary research, non of the information made sense. I too bought the product on the right to make the bulletproof coffee, I quickly realized that I just simply did not like the bulletproof style coffee, so I am sticking to black coffee… My next question is that I do use and love my essential oils, so I figured I could use up that huge 32oz in my DIY essential oil beautyskin recipes…, in your opinion would it be ok to just use up? and then not buy official “fractionated coconut oil” at all the future? For the skin and body products what would you recommend as a carrier oil, while I do like the smell of coconut, I do not want it to overpower some of the scents of my essential oils. Thank you for an follow up answer!
If you want to attack those who market MCT oils, maybe you should address their claims, i. e. that lauric acid is not a true MCT oil concerning the way it is metabolized by the body: While C-6, C-8 and C-10 fatty acids do not require digestion via bile salts, C-12 fatty acid (= lauric acid) does, which means it is metabolized like an LCT and not like an MCT. Since coconut oil contains a lot of C-12, but very little C-6, C-8 and C-10 fatty acids, it does not have the digestive benefits of an MCT oil.
Also, lauric acid gives many people digestive problems of its own, i.e. diarrhea, which severly limits the amount of coconut oil one can take in, and therefore the amount of true MCTs that can be consumed when taking coconut oil remains very, very small.
It follows that for a person with fat-digestion issues, coconut oil is not helpful at all, while MCT oil is.
When reading the abstracts to the studies linked on wikipedia, I found that two of three defined MCTs as C-6 through C-10 fatty acids, and only one included C-12 fatty acids. Interesting.
Your comment is pure opinion and has no factual basis. Lauric acid is the BEST and MOST BENEFICIAL MCT oil … to suggest that it isn’t even an MCT oil at all is simply marketing hooey to try and sell substandard MCT oil products and make a bundle on people’s ignorance of the subject. People who have problems with coconut oil simply need to start with small amounts and work their way up. I’ve seen this conservative approach work many, many times.
MCT oil isn’t even mentioned in the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat because fat guru and co-author Dr. Mary Enig considered it a substandard, industrialized oil that was in no way an adequate or healthy substitution for coconut oil.
“In some patients, adding fat in the form of medium chain triglycerides (MCT), may be helpful. Medium chain triglycerides of 8 to 10 carbons long are easier to metabolize (turn into energy) than the longer chain triglycerides (those with 12-18 carbons) because they do not require carnitine to be transported into the mitochondria. MCT Oil© is mainly made of 8 and 10 carbon triglycerides and this type of oil does not occur in nature, but is made from coconut oil. MCT Oil© is made by the baby formula company Mead-Johnson. It comes in quart bottles, available by prescription and runs about $70 a quart. It can be added like oil over pasta and rice. You can cook with it, but this is a light oil and burns easily. The special rules are explained in a recipe book that you can request from the pharmacist. Depending on the situation, a patient may benefit from a few teaspoons to a few tablespoons a day. There are oils sold in health food stores called “MCT Oil” or “medium chain triglyceride oil”. These are much less expensive ($25 per quart), but make sure there is a certified analysis on the label, stating that the vast majority of the oil is C-8 and C-1 0 (and not C-12 or higher).”
where do you get 5-gallon buckets of coconut oil?
This is the 5 gallon bucket: http://amzn.to/1IsPPJe
There was a time when I really used to like the WAPF…
I use MCT and I use coconut oil (plenty of it) I mix the two together and add some ghee (not exactly whole milk or butter either).
I’ve been doing this for years and I’m in excellent health. I see no reason for change…just because OMG, they left out lauric acid..
Lauric acid is the most beneficial MCT of all being highly antimicrobial and best for gut health and weight loss! You can’t get it in hardly any foods!
I’m glad you are using VCO, but many people sucked in by sexy MCT oil marketing are not. You would be better off just using more VCO and eliminating the cheap, processed MCT oil.