Coconut Oil May Not Be As Good For Your Health As You Thought

If there’s one product you can always turn to—it’s coconut oil. It can be used to whiten your teeth, make your hair healthy, remove your makeup and so so much more. Needless to say, you may already keep a jar of this in your bathroom, and no one could blame you for it.

You may also be accustomed to using coconut oil in your diet as a “healthy” alternative to other oils and butter, but unfortunately that may not be such a good idea.

Now, before you go thinking that coconut oil is no longer a miracle product, let’s get the facts straight. There are still many ways in which the oil is great for your skin, hair and more. We’re talking specifically in terms of diet here.

Holly Andersen, a cardiologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital told Refinery29, that the problem with coconut oil lies in the fact that it’s 90 percent saturated fat. She explains that even real butter only contains 64 percent.

What’s so bad about a high saturated fat content? Coconut oil has a flatter molecular shape and, “we think that flat fat gets laid down in the arteries much easier than fat that is crumpled up,” she told the publication.

So, swapping that coconut oil for other oils may actually be working to clog your arteries. Although, there are different types of saturated fats and not all of them affect your body the same way.

“The saturated fat in coconut oil is mostly lauric acid, a medium-chain saturated fatty acid that appears to have a more neutral effect on heart health when compared to longer-chain saturated fats found in meats and dairy products,” Wendy Bazilian, R.D., author ofThe SuperFoodsRx Diet told Shape magazine.

Since the jury’s still out on the actual benefits (if any) of coconut oil for your diet, it’s definitely a good idea to eat it sparingly. You might want to add the jar that’s in your kitchen to your bathroom for the time-being.

[h/t: Refinery29]