There are some very good organic expeller pressed oils, like olive and flaxseed oils, but the problem with these oils is that they go through a dangerous chemical change with high heat. Once this happens, they become rancid and cause serious damage in the body. These oils are fine uncooked, as in salad dressing, but are not good oils for baking and frying.
This is why coconut oil is such an important addition to our diets. It takes high heat well, making it the best cooking oil. It retains its nutritional value even after cooking. Because it is a saturated fat, it is very stable and can remain at room temperature, without going rancid, for well over a year.
Coconut oil is a staple in traditional tropical diets. It is found in the meat of the coconut fruit. Tropical people all over the world have used it in many ways. Coconut, coconut water, coconut milk or coconut oil was used in most of their cooking.
The coconut and its products were so widely consumed by tropical people that it is estimated that up to 60% of their caloric intake was from the saturated fat of coconut oil, according to a study done in the 1960’s. The people they studied were lean and healthy, and free from modern diseases. And according to a study in 1981, when pacific islanders moved to New Zealand, and lowered their coconut oil intake, their levels of bad cholesterol increased.
A modern study done in 1998 by a hospital in India, compared traditional cooking oils and fats (coconut oil and ghee or clarified butter) to modern polyunsaturated vegetable oils. They found that the incidence of heart disease and diabetes actually increased when people switched to these modern vegetable oils from the traditional oils. Other studies in coconut eating countries show that when these people switched to vegetable oils and cut their consumption of coconut oil, the occurrences of heart disease and obesity increased accordingly. The frightening fact is that even though there are many studies that show us how good saturated fats can be, we are still taught to stay on a low fat diet.
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