Virgin Coconut Oil 2.64

Virgin coconut oil is the rising superstar of the “healthy fats revolution”- and for good reason. Although wrongfully maligned due to common misunderstandings about saturated fats, coconut oil is finally being recognized as a truly “functional food” with dynamic nutritional and medicinal implications- what traditional cultures have always known. On popular television shows and in magazine features, you will notice murmurs about its miraculous potential to boost metabolism, heal acne and improve heart health. One of the major factors underlying these distinctive traits is the unique fatty acid content that coconut oil has, which sets it apart from other conventional dietary oils.
The Fatty Acid Breakdown
All of the fats and oils that we eat are composed of molecules called fatty acids. Biochemically, fatty acids are composed of a chain of carbon atoms connected to one another by chemical bonds. When three fatty acids are combined with a glycerol molecule, a triglyceride is formed. Triglycerides are the basic structural components of fats and oils. The characteristics of a dietary fat, including how it looks, how solid it is and how it functions in the body, are determined by the type of fatty acids in the triglycerides that make it up. There are generally two methods for classifying these fatty acids: saturation and size.
You are probably familiar with the concept of saturation. After all, on every nutrition label smacked onto packaged foods nowadays you will find a bolded percentile denoting the saturated fat content. Saturated fatty acids are naturally occurring in animal fat (lard, tallow, chicken fat, goose and duck fat, and dairy products like butter and ghee) as well as tropical oils like virgin coconut oil and palm oil. Once defamed, there are actually many health benefits to including high quality saturated fats in the diet. Unsaturated fats are more common in nuts, vegetable oils and fish. From a chemical standpoint, saturation refers to the number of hydrogen atoms linked onto the carbons that make up a fatty acid chain. Physically, this determines the general stability and solidity of the oil.
While saturation is an important aspect in determining the way that a fat or oil acts in the body, there is another lesser-discussed factor to take into consideration. This second method of classification is the molecular size or the length of the carbon chain within the fatty acid. There are short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) and long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). Our bodies metabolize fats based on their size. Most of the fats in our diet, whether saturated or unsaturated, from plant or animal sources, are composed of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). Coconut oil is unique because it composed primarily of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). While butter and palm oil also contain some MCFAs, coconut oil overwhelmingly has the most.

Benefits of Medium Chain Fatty Acids
As with many things, consuming a robust variety of healthy fats in the diet is generally beneficial. Yet there are some notable benefits to MCFAs that are worth mentioning. Fats made up of medium chain fatty acids are more easily digested than their larger counterparts. They are more soluble in water and are almost completely digested by the time they leave the stomach. In fact, unlike other fats, triglycerides made up of MCFAs do not even require pancreatic enzymes or bile to be broken down. When they reach the small intestine they are thus immediately absorbed into the portal vein and sent to the liver, where they are used preferentially as a source of fuel. Thus they provide the body with quick and easy energy, while requiring little effort from digestive and hormonal systems. This characteristic yields many therapeutic effects in the body.