Coconut oil has been touted as the key to weight loss. Advertisers credit the lauric acid content of the oil with triggering fat loss and speeding up the metabolism, but it does neither. While it's true that lauric acid is burned for energy more quickly than other fats, it should not be considered a weight loss aid. It is still a saturated fat, and like any other fat, has nine calories per gram. Since weight loss boils down to calories in versus calories out, high amounts of any fat, including lauric acid, can hinder your weight loss progress.
Energy Source
A 1998 study in the journal "Life Sciences" found that medium-chain fatty acids like lauric acid are metabolized differently than long-chain fatty acids like olive oil. Because MCFAs are smaller molecules, the body absorbs them from the digestive system before the LCFAs are even finished being broken down. This allows the MCFAs to go directly to the liver, bypassing the lymph system, and be distributed as an energy source. Fat that is burned off as energy cannot be stored, and will not contribute to obesity. This finding was confirmed in 2000, in a study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," which found that the longer the carbon backbone of the fat, the less often it is burned as fuel. Researchers found that of all the fats tested, lauric acid was burned the most -- up to 41 percent over nine hours.
Better Than Olive Oil
Olive oil has been credited with improving heart health and enhancing weight loss, so researchers investigated the difference between the weight-related effects of olive oil and MCFAs in 2008. A study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" found that participants who consumed MCFAs, like lauric acid, lost more total weight than those who consumed olive oil, and that most of the weight they lost was from fat, especially "trunk fat." These results do not necessarily translate to real life though, because the participants given MCFAs consumed 18 to 24 g per day of pure, isolated MCFAs. No whole food source provides this kind of profile. The fat used in the study was lab-created, and is not comparable to the oils you use at home.
Metabolic Effect
For all the benefit MCFAs had shown regarding weight loss, they are still saturated fats, and researchers were concerned about potential cardiac effects. In October 2008, the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition" published a study that investigated the possibility of cardiovascular harm from increased consumption of saturated fats like lauric acid. Participants consumed 12 percent of their calories in the form of either olive oil or MCFA oil for 16 weeks while participating in a weight loss program. At the end of the study, there was no difference in blood glucose, cholesterol or blood pressure between the two groups. Both groups experienced a decline in all of these variables, which is to be expected with weight loss and the consumption of healthy fats, but the fact that the saturated MCFAs produced results similar to the unsaturated olive oil was surprising. Researchers theorized that the length of the carbon backbone of a saturated fat may play a role in the fat's effect on metabolic factors.
What It Means
Medium-chain fatty acids like lauric acid have shown promising results in weight loss studies, but should not be considered a weight loss aid yet. The research may help the food industry develop new cooking oils that could slow weight gain, but taking coconut oil as a lauric acid supplement can work against you -- a single tbsp. contains 117 calories and 13.6 g of fat. You may safely use it as a replacement for other fats in your cooking, as long as you keep your overall fat intake below 20 percent of your total calories. True weight loss is only achieved by increasing the amount of calories you burn and reducing the amount you consume -- in other words, diet and exercise.
References
- USDA: Nutrient Data Laboratory: Oil, Coconut, # 04047
- "Life Sciences"; Medium Chain Fatty Acid Metabolism and Energy Expenditure: Obesity Treatment Implications; Papamandjaris AA, et al.; 1998
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Differential Oxidation of Individuall Dietary Fatty Acids in Humans; James P. DeLany, et al.; October 2000
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Weight-Loss Diet That Includes Consumption of Medium-Chain Triaglycerol Oil Leads to a Greater Rate of Weight and Fat Mass Loss Than Does Olive Oil; Marie-Pierre St-Onge, et al.; March 2008
- "Journal of the American College of Nutrition"; Medium Chain Triglyceride Oil Consumption as Part of a WEight Loss Diet Does Not Lead to an Adverse Metabolic Profile When Compared to Olive Oil; Marie-Pierre St-Onge, et al.; October 2008
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