More Health Benefits Of Cooking With Coconut Oil

Over the last few years, the fitness community has been going bananas over coconuts. Coconut water is a bona fide craze, and new evidence continues to mount about the health benefits of cooking with coconut oil. An animal study published in the July edition of the journal PLOS ONE examined the difference between subjects who consumed their fat in the form of coconut oil versus soybean oil, which is commonly listed as the ingredient “vegetable oil.” In the study, mice were given a diet composed of 40 percent fat. The fat source for one group was soybean oil and the other was coconut oil. Compared to mice on the coconut oil diet, animals on the high soybean oil diet showed increased weight gain, larger fat deposits, fatty liver, diabetes, and insulin resistance. Mounting evidence seems to suggest that it’s wise to limit your intake of vegetable oils (soy, corn, safflower, and sunflower oils) in favor of olive oil or coconut oil, even though the latter is mostly composed of saturated fat.