The Coconut Oil Miracle (10 page)

The CDC estimates that in the United States up to three-quarters of all cases of food poisoning are directly linked to ground beef. A batch of ground beef might contain portions of meat from as many as 100 cows, any one of which may have been contaminated. It only takes a microscopic amount of meat from one infected animal to contaminate an entire batch of meat, and then this large batch of meat is divided and sent to dozens of stores and restaurants. The most notable outbreak occurred in 1993. Seven hundred people who ate Jack-in-the-Box hamburgers became ill, some sustaining permanent kidney damage, and at least four children died.
E. coli,
the culprit in the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak, kills an estimated 100 people a year in the United States and sickens 25,000 others.

Even foods we normally regard as safe can be a problem. For example, we think milk that has been pasteurized is free from harmful germs, but contamination can occur after pasteurization. In 1994 a truck that was contaminated with salmonella from a previous cargo of raw eggs delivered tainted pasteurized milk to an ice cream factory in Minnesota. The ice cream made from that milk was then shipped to stores in several states, causing an estimated 224,000 cases of food poisoning, the largest single food poisoning outbreak in U.S. history. Since then there have been over 50 major outbreaks in this country.

Between 6.5 million and 81 million Americans experience food-borne illnesses each year, and about 9,000 die as a result. While most cases don’t end in death, food poisoning is far more common than we realize. Some experts estimate that as much as half of the flu cases that occur each year are actually reactions to food poisoning. The bout with the “flu” you experienced last fall may very well have been food poisoning.

Contamination has become a growing problem not just with meat but with all types of food. Our fruits and vegetables aren’t even safe. Unpasteurized apple cider, lettuce, and strawberries have also caused widespread outbreaks of food poisoning. While cooking destroys disease-causing bacteria, many fruits and vegetables are eaten raw. The only other thing you can do is wash your produce and hope you’ve cleaned it adequately enough. Then if you do become sick, antibiotics and your body’s own recuperative powers are your only defense. But what if you’re infected with one of the supergerms—say a strain of staphylococcus that is resistant to most antibiotics—what do you do? You’d better hope your immune system is strong enough to overcome it.

Antibiotics still work for most bacterial infections; viruses, however, are another matter. They are all, in a sense, supergerms because there are no drugs that can effectively kill them. Antibiotics are only useful against bacteria, not viruses. To date, no drugs have been developed that can effectively eradicate viruses and cure the illnesses they cause. Antiviral drugs may reduce the severity of the infections but
do not eliminate them completely. That is why there is no cure for the common cold—a viral infection. When you get a viral infection such as a cold, flu, herpes, or mononucleosis, there is little the doctor can do for you. The doctor’s only option is to help you feel a little more comfortable by reducing the severity of the symptoms while your body fights the infection.

Vaccines are considered our most effective weapons against viral infections, but these are used to prevent disease more than they are to treat it. Vaccines use dead or weakened virus strains that are injected into the body. The body recognizes a vaccine as a viral infection and mounts a feverish attack by producing its own “antiviral” compounds called antibodies. These vaccines, however, have the potential to cause infections and other illnesses, so they aren’t completely safe. Viruses are continually mutating and new strains emerging, so vaccines for most of them aren’t available. The only real protection against viral infections is our body’s own natural defenses.

Because there is no cure for viral infections, they can become deadly, especially in individuals with depressed immune systems. Many children and elder people die each year from flu that ordinarily would not be fatal. One of the most hideous outbreaks in modern times is AIDS, caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus attacks the cells of the immune system, leaving the person vulnerable to infection by any number of opportunistic organisms. Infection by these organisms eventually causes the victim’s death. As yet, none of the antiviral drugs can stop it.

We are in the age of supergerms. Medications can’t be relied on to protect us against all infectious organisms. We need something more
to boost our immune system and help us fight these troublesome invaders—a super-antimicrobial.

We live in an environment teeming with microorganisms. They are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. They even live on our skin. Many of these germs cause disease, and some have become drug-resistant supergerms. Fortunately, nature has provided us a number of medicinal plants to help protect us from attack by these harmful pests. Coconut is one of these.

When you catch a cold or get the flu, how long does it stay around? For most people it lasts several days to a week or more. There is no medicine, no cure, for the common cold or the flu. When you get sick, you have to let your body fight its own battle. That’s why it takes so long to shake these illnesses.

Not too long ago an associate of mine said she felt like she was coming down with the flu. She had the beginnings of a sore throat, sinus congestion, and fatigue. I told her, “Take two to three tablespoons of coconut oil mixed in a glass of lukewarm orange juice with every meal.” She looked at me inquisitively, as if to say, “You’ve got to be joking. How is coconut oil going to help?”

From earlier discussions, she knew coconut oil had many nutritional benefits, but she doubted it would help with her infection. I didn’t tell her it would cure her or that it would even make her feel any better. “Trust me,” I said. “Take it and see what happens.”

During the first day the symptoms got worse, as they usually do
with seasonal infections. Normally, the flu gets progressively worse for the first few days until the body has had time to rally its defenses sufficiently to fight the invading infection. The next day, instead of getting worse, the symptoms started to go away. By the end of third day the symptoms were all but gone. Three days—that’s all it took. She was surprised. “I never had an infection that lasted only three days,” she said.

How could coconut oil stop the flu? One of the most amazing aspects about coconut oil is its ability to fight infections. When coconut oil is eaten, the body transforms its unique fatty acids into powerful antimicrobial defense forces capable of defeating some of the most notorious disease-causing microorganisms. Even supergerms are vulnerable to these lifesaving coconut derivatives. The unique properties of coconut oil make it, in essence, a natural antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiprotozoal food.

Coconut oil’s antimicrobial effects come from its unique composition of MCFAs. All of these fatty acids (when converted into free fatty acids or monoglycerides) exhibit antimicrobial properties, some to a greater extent than others. This is an exciting area of research because it involves a readily available food source that can be used to both treat and prevent infectious illness. Wouldn’t it be more pleasant to eat your favorite foods cooked in coconut oil to fight an infection rather than choke down a handful of antibiotics and suffer with their side effects? Eating a pizza made with coconut oil or a pudding made of coconut milk sounds a lot more appetizing than swallowing a bunch of nasty-tasting pills. Such a scenario may be possible. Researchers are currently working on formulations derived from the
MCFAs in coconut oil to produce concentrated antimicrobial dietary supplements and pharmaceuticals.

Coconut oil’s potential for treating and preventing a wide assortment of infections is truly astounding, ranging from the flu to life-threatening conditions such as AIDS. Treating individuals infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, by feeding them MCFAs has shown great promise recently, and research is now under way in this area. Eating coconut oil may be a simple solution to many illnesses we face today. Laboratory tests have shown that the MCFAs found in coconut oil are effective in destroying the viruses that cause influenza, measles, herpes, mononucleosis, hepatitis C, and AIDS; bacteria that can cause stomach ulcers, throat infections, pneumonia, sinusitis, earache, rheumatic fever, dental cavities, food poisoning, urinary tract infections, meningitis, gonorrhea, and toxic shock syndrome; fungi and yeast that lead to ringworm, candida, and thrush; and parasites that can cause intestinal infections such as giardiasis.

The marvelous thing about using coconut oil to treat or prevent these conditions is that while coconut oil is deadly to disease-causing microorganisms, it is harmless to humans. The fatty acids that make coconut oil so effective against germs are the same ones nature has put into mother’s milk to protect children. Human breast milk and the milk of other mammals all contain small amounts of MCFAs. This is why butter, which is concentrated milk fat, also contains MCFA. Breast milk, with its medium-chain fatty acids, protects the newborn baby from harmful germs while its immune system is still developing, its most vulnerable time in life. This is one of the reasons why coconut oil or MCFAs are added to infant formula. A mother
who consumes coconut oil will have more MCFAs in her milk to help protect and nourish her baby. If it’s safe enough for a newborn baby, it is safe enough for us. Nature made MCFAs to nourish and protect us against infectious illnesses.

Medical researchers develop marvelous synthetic drugs to fight infections, but all of them are accompanied by undesirable side effects. Some are highly toxic. Coconut oil is nature’s own antimicrobial weapon and, as a food that has withstood the test of time, is totally safe. While drugs may be necessary to treat certain illnesses, if you regularly eat coconut oil your chances of being infected with those illnesses should be greatly reduced.

As research continues, coconut oil may prove to be one of the best internal antimicrobial substances available without a doctor’s prescription. Simply adding coconut oil to your daily diet may provide you with substantial protection from a wide range of infectious illnesses. If you feel you are coming down with the flu, eating dried coconut or foods prepared with coconut oil may help you fight off the infection. If you have children, it may be the way to protect them against many childhood illnesses such as earaches and measles. Along with good dental hygiene, it might help to protect young teeth from developing cavities and periodontal disease. Serving something as ordinary as a pizza made with coconut oil for dinner may be one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself and your children.

Fatty acids are essential to our health. We must have them in order to supply the building blocks for tissues and hormones. Every cell in
our bodies must have a ready supply of fatty acids in order to function properly. Nature put fatty acids in our foods for a purpose. Your body recognizes them and knows what to do with them; MCFAs are natural substances the body knows how to use for its benefit. They are harmless to us while they are deadly to certain microorganisms.

While the fatty acids caprylic acid (C:8), capric acid (C:10), and myristic acid (C:14) all demonstrate antimicrobial properties, lauric acid (C:12) has the greatest antiviral activity. This is important because there are few substances that can effectively fight viruses. Lauric acid (and other MCFAs), unlike all drugs, have no undesirable or harmful side effects.

As far back as 1966 Dr. Jon J. Kabara, a researcher at Michigan State University, reported on the antimicrobial activity of lauric acid. Because of concerns about viral contamination in foods, early research focused on the antiviral effects of lauric acid. It was soon discovered that lauric acid also exhibited antibacterial and antifungal effects as well. In fact, all the MCFAs seem to share this characteristic.

Most bacteria and viruses are encased in a fatty or lipid membrane. The fatty acids that make up this outer membrane or skin enclose the organism’s DNA and other cellular materials. But, unlike our skin, which is relatively tough, the membrane of these microorganisms is nearly fluid. The fatty acids in the membrane are loosely attached, giving the membrane a remarkable degree of mobility and flexibility. This unique property allows these organisms to move, bend, and squeeze through the tiniest openings.

Lipid-coated viruses and bacteria are easily killed by MCFAs, which primarily destroy these organisms by disrupting their lipid
membranes. Medium-chain fatty acids, being similar to those in the microorganism’s membrane, are easily attracted to and absorbed into it. Unlike the other fatty acids in the membrane, MCFAs are much smaller and therefore weaken the already nearly fluid membrane to such a degree that it disintegrates. The membrane literally splits open, spilling its insides and killing the organism. Our white blood cells quickly clean up and dispose of the cellular debris. MCFAs kill invading organisms without causing any known harm to human tissues.

The antimicrobial power of MCFAs is utilized naturally by our own bodies. Our first line of defense against any harmful organism is our skin. In order to inflict harm, microorganisms must first penetrate the skin’s protective barrier. While the skin is permeable to some degree, it is also equipped with chemical weapons to help it ward off attack. One of these weapons is the oil secreted by our sebaceous (oil) glands. Sebaceous glands are found near the root of every hair. This oil is secreted along the hair shaft to lubricate the hair and skin. Some have described this oil as “nature’s skin cream” because it prevents drying and cracking of the skin. It also has another very important function: it contains medium-chain fatty acids to fight invading microorganisms. A thin layer of oil on the skin helps protect us from the multitude of harmful germs our skin comes into contact with each day.