Coconut Oil Health Benefits
Coconut oil has become very “on trend” as a natural health remedy as well as a healthy addition to any diet.
In recent years, we’ve all been trained to accept that unsaturated fats are good for us and saturated fats are bad, but many people who follow a natural diet don’t believe this is true.
Whilst saturated fats may be harder for your body to burn off, they are more natural than processed oils and better for your body.
Here are just a few coconut oil health benefits…
Skin – Coconut oil is a great multipurpose skin care item.
Like many other oils, it is great to use for massages, but it also provides moisture and nutrition for your skin, whilst helping to keep your skin smooth by acting as an exfoliant.
It can also be used to treat certain skin infections like acne and eczema.
It contains antioxidants that help neutralize skin-damaging free radicals and has even been show to help prevent wrinkles by keeping your skin and connective tissue supple!
Hair – Massage coconut oil gently into the scalp or even use it as a conditioner.
Not only is oil treatment good for your hair, it also has essential nutrients to keep your hair strong and healthy.
It will help stimulate hair growth, moisturize your hair and scalp, and leave your hair looking beautifully shiny.
It can even help get rid of lice and their eggs.
Stress Relief – To help ease fatigue and regenerate yourself, apply coconut oil to the head and then gently massage. You’ll feel better and ready to go.
Heart Health – While it does contain saturated fats, coconut oil also contains up to 50% lauric acid (a medium chain fatty acid).
Lauric acid helps to lower cholesterol and blood pressure whilst maintaining normal blood platelet function to reduce the risk of blood clots.
Weight Loss – Sure, coconut oil contains fat (all oils do), but coconut oil actually has less fat than many commonly used cooking oils. And the fats in coconut oil are more easily converted into energy rather than being stored – whilst stimulating your metabolism by increasing your thyroids activity.
It also helps your body absorb more essential nutrients from other foods to keep your body in tip-top shape.
Diabetes – Coconut oil provides a fast acting energy source to your system in much the same way as simple carbohydrates – but without an accompanying insulin spike.
There is some early research that shows it can stabilize weight gain in diabetics – and in pre-diabetics, the same effect can prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Immunity – Coconut oil contains antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal compounds that help fight diseases before they can take hold so you stay healthy and get sick less often.
Infection – The same properties in coconut oil that keep you from getting sick can also help heal or slow illnesses once you get them.
Coconut oil not only has antibacterial properties to help fight normal infections, it has also been shown to help viral infections including HIV.
It helps when take internally, but it can also be applied to cuts and bruises to speed healing and form a protective barrier to prevent infection and other irritants from getting in.
Digestion – The antibacterial properties of coconut oil help to soothe inflamed digestive tract tissue that can be found if you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, Chrohn’s disease and other digestive disorders.
Plus, whilst it is easily absorbed by your digestive system, it also seems to help with the absorption of other nutrients.
These are just a few of the coconut oil health benefits that have been discovered.
Coconut oil is believed to do everything from preventing liver disease to strengthening your teeth.
And studies are currently under way to verify claims that coconut oil can have benefits for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.
So, even though further research is needed to support the claims for these coconut oil health benefits, it’s still worth incorporating it into your diet.