25/10/2007 (GulfNews.com), Dubai - Doctors warned 30 years ago about a possible link between heart attacks and coconut oil commonly used in cooking by south Indian expatriates.
 
Doctors at Rashid Hospital said coconut oil was a potential killer and cited Dubai as having one of the highest incidences of heart attacks among young people in the world.

Coconut oil is mainly used for frying, and in many Asian communities refined coconut oil is used in curries.

During the 1980s, the American Heart Association (AHA) categorised coconut oil as a saturated fat and said it was harmful to cardiovascular health as it promoted heart disease.

Saturated fat is found mostly in foods from animals and some plants, including coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil and cocoa butter.

Positive benefits
Recent studies have shown that coconut oil has some positive benefits that reduce low density lipoproteins (LDL) and improves high density lipoproteins (HDL), which protect against cardiovascular diseases.
 
"A few articles have been published saying that coconut oil is good, but I would not yet recommend it to patients until further studies are done," said Dr Rajesh Raipancholia, a cardiologist at Welcare Hospital.

Still, some researchers believe that previous studies linking coconut oil to health problems may have done it a disservice because coconut oil is different from other saturated fats as it is composed of medium-chain fatty acids.

"This type of fat protects you from suffering a stroke," said Dr Raipancholia while emphasising that AHA has not yet disregarded it as a potentially fatal oil.

A study at the Philippine Coconut Research and Development Foundation (PCRDF) found similar results, citing the positive effects of coconut oil for dental care, peptic ulcers, benign prostatic hyperplasia, genital herpes and hepatitis C.

Debate
"The topic is still under debate, but I won't take it into consideration until it has been approved by the scientific bodies," he said. "Nowadays people are advised to use olive, corn and sunflower oil but more research needs to be done before we can take coconut oil off the avoid list."

It is recommended to have less than two grams of saturated fats per servings.

South Indians continue to use coconut oil in their daily cooking, and are convinced of its benefits. "I have always used it and will not consider substituting it for any other kind of oil," said Smitha Sajjaad from Kerala, who has been living in Dubai for the past 10 years. When Smitha first arrived she tried cooking with corn oil but found that the taste was very difficult to adjust to.

"I've been using it back home all the time and am not going to change my cooking habits. The taste is very good with coconut oil, even the food tastes better," said Smitha.