Publication

Abstract : The per capita coconut oil consumption in Kerala State has been reduced to one-third during the last 50 years. However, during the same p[eriod, the rate of heart attack has been increased to 3 times in the same population. This alone will be sufficient to show that coconut oil has nothing to do with heart attacks. Studies at Kochi showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the cholesterol, HDL or LDL levels in coconut oil consuming population versus sunflower oil consuming population. Moreover, 71 samples of plaques were analysed for the composition of fatty acids in them. Plaques did not contain significant amounts of lauric acid or myristic acid (fatty acids from coconut oil. Instead, palmitic acid and stearic acid (long chain fatty acids) were the main ingredients of these plaques. Fatty acid contents of plaques from coconut oil consuming group and sunflower consuming group were the same.