Coconut: The Fat that Burns Calories – In the Business of Better Health

Several things go by the name “coconut”—the tree, the fruit, the candy. And the spice.

Coconut spice is the dried shredded meat from the fruit of the majestic palm tree that grows in subtropical and tropical regions around the world. Though people in these regions use coconut to spice savory foods, we mostly identify coconut with yummy sweets (and all the calories they deliver)—a dietary habit that may have led to the common perception that coconut is bad for you.

True, coconut contains a lot of fat. Coconut is 82 percent fat, 76 percent of which is saturated, the type we’re told to minimize because it clogs arteries. But here’s the surprise: the saturated fat is what makes coconut a super-spice! Because the saturated fat in coconut isn’t the same as the saturated fat in meat and milk.

The saturated fat in coconut is what’s called a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT). To understand why that’s important, let’s take a closer look at fat.

Put a tiny drop of fat under a powerful microscope that displays atoms and molecules, and you’ll see triglycerides—three (tri) fatty acids hooked up to a molecule of glycerol. Those fatty acids form chains, linked together by carbon atoms. Some chains are short, with four to six carbon atoms. Some chains are long, with 24. And some chains are medium-sized, with 8 to 12.

Ninety percent of fats—like those in meat and milk—are long-chain fatty acids (LCT). To process them, the body hooks them up with transport molecules in the bloodstream called chylomicrons and sends them off to fat cells.

But MCT isn’t digested that way. The body shunts MCT directly from the stomach to the liver, where it’s metabolized in a flash. And that super-rapid metabolic action actually burns more calories than the fat contains. Studies show that people who get lots of dietary MCT burn an average of 100 extra calories a day, compared to folks who don’t eat an MCT-rich diet. And coconut contains more MCT than any other food.

Yes, you heard right: the fat in coconut can help you burn calories, so that you maintain or lose weight. Sound too good to be true? Scientists don’t think so.

The Belly-Friendly Fat

Canadian researchers asked 12 healthy women to eat one of two strange diets for two weeks. Both diets contained 15 percent protein, 45 percent carbohydrates, and 40 percent fat—normal enough. But half the women ate 80 percent of their daily fat from beef tallow, while the other half ate their fat from a combination of butter and coconut oil. In other words, both groups ate plenty of LCT-containing saturated fat, but only one group also ate saturated fats with MCT.

After two weeks, those eating MCT were burning up about 45 percent more LCT!

No one lost (or gained) weight—the study wasn’t designed as a weight-loss experiment. It was designed to prove the hypothesis that MCT are potent fat-burners—and it proved just that.

“The capacity of MCT” to increase fat-burning of long-chain saturated fatty acids “suggests a role for MCT in body weight control over the long term,” concluded the researchers in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders.

And in a study in the journal Lipids, Brazilian researchers studied 40 women, dividing them into two groups—one group took supplements of soy oil, while the other group took coconut oil. After three months, both groups lost a little weight. But only those taking the coconut oil had much trimmer tummies. (Abdominal fat isn’t only unsightly. The fat around your gut has the bad habit of pumping out inflammatory compounds that increase the risk for heart disease and stroke.) Coconut, concluded the researchers, may “promote a reduction in abdominal obesity.”

Importantly, the researchers found the coconut oil didn’t increase heart-hurting LDL cholesterol, and did increase heart-helping HDL cholesterol.

Coconut & Co.—
In the Business of Better Health

Helping you stay slim isn’t the only health-promoting power of coconut.

Antibacterial. Coconut milk contains the MCT lauric acid, which the body breaks down into monolaurin. In a study by Philippine researchers, monolaurin killed off several types of disease-causing bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, Enterobacter, and Enterococcus.

Monolaurin “might prove useful in the prevention and treatment of severe bacterial infections, especially those that are difficult to treat and/or are antibacterial resistant,” said a team of researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center, who also studied the compound.

Acne. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego found that a compound containing lauric acid was uniquely effective in killing the bacteria that cause acne. The compound has “great potential of becoming a safe and effective therapeutic medication for acne,” they concluded.

Antifungal. Researchers in Iceland found that lauric acid and capric acid (another MCT in coconut) killed Candida albicans, the fungus that causes yeast infection.

Colon cancer. Coconut is rich in catechins, cancer-fighting antioxidants. In an Indian study, the addition of coconut to the diet of laboratory animals “markedly reduced” the development of chemically induced colon cancer.

Alzheimer’s. An international team of researchers induced menopause in laboratory animals and then divided them into four groups, feeding one group coconut water. After five weeks, they found the coconut-fed animals had higher blood levels of estrogen and less destruction of brain cells—showing that coconut water has “estrogen-like characteristics” and may play a role in preventing Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia after menopause.

Crohn’s disease (inflammatory bowel disease). Researchers in Spain used coconut oil to reduce the rate of chemically induced Crohn’s disease in experimental animals. The oil worked by reducing inflammation. There may be a “primary therapeutic effect of MCT in human Crohn’s disease,” they wrote in the Journal of Nutrition.

Pain relief. A tea popular in northeast Brazil made from coconut husk fibers is popularly used to “treat several inflammatory disorders,” said Brazilian researchers. When they tested the tea in the laboratory on experimental animals, they found it not only reduced inflammation—it also relieved pain in the same way as morphine. The study “confirms” the use of the tea for reducing inflammation, said the researchers in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

Getting to Know Coconut

It’s not surprising that the coconut palm is called the “tree of life.” A typical tree produces anywhere from 60 to 180 coconuts a year—the dietary mainstay for millions of people in South and Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean, where the equivalent of a coconut a day is eaten as coconut water, milk, oil, and spice.

The coconut palm produces anywhere from 60 to 180 coconuts per year.

Coconut water is the juice found inside young (but not mature) coconuts. It’s a popular drink throughout the tropics—in Brazil, for example, it’s second only to orange juice.

Coconut milk is made by pouring hot water or coconut water over shredded coconut and squeezing it to extract the milk. It’s sweet and milky-white, with an almond-like flavor. It’s widely used as a spicy flavoring in cooking throughout Southeast Asia, South India, Indonesia, South America, the Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean.

Coconut milk gives distinctive flavor to saté lalot, grilled meatballs popular on the Indonesian island of Madure, near Java. It’s widely used in Bahian cooking, a Cajun-like cuisine of Brazil, and is in the base of the much-beloved Bahian peanut sauce, which also features garlic, tomato, and cilantro.

In Sri Lanka, coconut milk is used with toasted spices to mellow and give body to hot curries. Coconut milk is also used in hoppers, steamed fermented breads made with rice flour and served for breakfast.

Coconut cream—a thicker, more paste-like version of coconut milk—is used in many dishes in Kerala, an area of South India known for its wonderful fish curries.

Coconut spice (dry, grated) is an essential ingredient in curries and vegetables in Indonesia and Malaysia, along with coconut milk. The spice is also used in the beef dish called rendang. And it’s used to make rice pudding and dadar, pancakes with a sweet coconut filling.

Fish and seafood cooked with rice and shredded dried coconut form the daily diet of people living along India’s tropical Malabar Coast. Dried coconut is used extensively in South Indian cooking, especially curries. (South India is famous for its coconut chutney.) Vegetarian dishes generally feature toasted desiccated coconut.

Coconut oil is the most popular frying medium in South Indian cuisine.

Coconut may help prevent and/or treat:

Acne

Alzheimer’s disease

Cancer

Crohn’s disease (inflammatory bowel disease)

Infection, bacterial

Overweight

Pain

Vaginal yeast infection

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Coconut pairs well with these spices:

Allspice

Asafoetida

Basil

Black pepper

Cocoa

Cumin

Curry leaf

Galangal

Garlic

Ginger

Lemongrass

Sun-dried tomato

Turmeric

Vanilla

and complements recipes featuring:

Beef

Chicken

Chocolate

Chutney

Curries

Fish and

seafood

Lentils

Potatoes

Vegetables

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Other recipes containing coconut:

Black Mango Chutney

Madras Beef Curry

Mussels with Thai Red Curry Sauce

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

How to Buy Coconut

Aside from Floridians and Hawaiians, most of us only encounter fresh coconuts and taste coconut water on a trip to the tropics. But fresh and dried shredded coconut is readily available in most supermarkets, and is sold desiccated, toasted, sweetened, and unsweetened. It’s available in three grades: fine, medium, and coarse. (The grading reflects texture, not quality.) Look for it in the baking section.

Coconut Meatballs with Peanut Sauce

These meatballs are based on sate lalat, a dish that is popular on the Indonesian island of Java. (However, the dish originated on the island of Madura, off the coast of Java.) It makes a nice hors d’oeuvre. The peanut sauce gives the meatballs a tropical flavor, but they are moist enough to serve without it.

Peanut sauce:

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1½ tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Thai curry paste (optional)

½ teaspoon Madras Curry Powder or commercial curry powder

½ cup warm water

Meatballs:

1 pound 90 percent lean ground beef

1 cup dried or fresh (sweetened or unsweetened) shredded coconut

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 tablespoons black vinegar or 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons extra-virgin coconut oil or olive oil

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt to taste

1. To make the peanut sauce: Combine the coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, curry paste (if using), and curry powder in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

2. Gradually whisk in the warm water and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Serve room temperature.

3. To make the meatballs: Combine the beef, coconut, ginger, vinegar, turmeric, allspice, cumin, one tablespoon of the oil, the lime juice, pepper, and salt in a large bowl. Form into one-inch meatballs. Keep your hands moistened with water to roll the balls.

4. Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and fry the meatballs, turning frequently, until lightly browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Makes about 30 meatballs and 2 cups of sauce.

You’ll find the largest selection of shredded coconut in Asian and Indian markets. You can also purchase it online.

Coconut milk can be found sweetened or unsweetened in a can, or as a concentrated paste that must be reconstituted. Look for it in the Asian section of most well-stocked supermarkets, or in Asian and Indian markets. Once the can is open, you can freeze any unused portion. Coconut milk freezes well and will keep for several months.

In the US, coconut oil is rarely used in cooking—because it’s unfamiliar, and out of concern for its high level of saturated fat. As news of the fat-burning powers of MCT spread, coconut oil may become a “functional food” like olive oil—widely understood to taste good and do your health good. For cooking, virgin coconut oil is considered superior to regular oil.

In the Kitchen with Coconut

A lot of Americans know coconut best as Coco Lopez, the thick, canned mix of sugar cane and coconut cream that is the basis of the tropical rum drink piña colada. Cooks are familiar with coconut as an ingredient in cakes, candy, and other confections.

Throughout the coconut-growing nations of the world, coconut is used more in savory dishes. (Americans are perhaps most familiar with the savory use of coconut in the popular appetizer coconut shrimp, which is deep fried in hot oil.) Don’t hesitate to give coconut a try—it complements almost any kind of food, especially red meat, poultry, and fish.

Other than making cookies and cake, here are some ideas to extend your use of coconut in the kitchen:

• Sprinkle toasted coconut on curries at the end of cooking or add shredded coconut to meat, fish stews, and curries.

• Sprinkle coconut over hot chocolate. Better yet, make hot cocoa with coconut milk instead of cow’s milk. Add a cinnamon stick for stirring.