Medicinal Properties of Coconut Oil - An Opportunity for Guyana

Roughly 45 to 50% of fatty acids are called Lauric acid. It is a fatty acid that is 12 carbons long and it is saturated. It is known as a medium chain fatty acid or MCFA. Lauric acid is known to kill viruses and bacteria that are enveloped in a phospholipid membrane. Examples of viruses with a fatty capsule are: influenza viruses and HIV to name a few. The cold virus has no phospholipid membrane. Hepatitis does, however.

People began researching the properties of Lauric acid in a coconut oil context when reports circulated of individuals being 'cured' of AIDS upon prolonged and continued oral ingestion of the oil. Additionally, Crohn's diseases sufferers found that they felt better by eating two coconut macaroon cookies (of a certain high coconut brand) a day.


The PCA, Philippine Coconut Authority conducts trials on AIDS/HIV patients. The treatment which seems to work is 3 tablespoons of coconut oil taken 3 times daily, a total of 9 tablespoons over the course of 6 to 8 weeks and then a maintenance dose of 3 tablespoons a day from thence onward.

Patients with full blown AIDS have gone to simply HIV positive. HIV patients have considerably reduced their viral loads. Some patients have gone to 'undetectable' which simply means that the viral count is nonetheless there, but too small to count given the method utilized.

Coconut itself contains about 75% fiber, not bran fiber from wheat and grains (which contains phytic acid that absorbs calcium and other mineral from your body before it is excreted), but dietary fiber that feeds beneficial colon flora. As the fiber is metabolized by the naturally occurring bacteria, they., by default, crowd out other potentially harmful pathogens and produce short chain fatty acids (SCFA's) like acetic acid (minute amounts of vinegar and butyric acid (originally isolated in butter) both compounds are known to have varying degrees of antimicrobial activity. These fatty acids are absorbed directly into the colon and serve as energy in that way. butyric acid has been shown to have anti-tumor properties.

The story that I read in 2002 which I cannot find anymore tells of a guy whose name is unimportant because it was changed anyway to protect his identity. He had full blown AIDS and had prepaid his funeral. This is in 1997 btw. He went to Suriname and stayed in a village of Indians (Amerindians or East Indians I know not...it wasn't written by anyone from the Caribbean). There he grated the equivalent of half a coconut and ate it with his cereal every single day for what seems to me a few months. He went back home feeling fine and his viral count was undetectable. Every day back in the US, he eats that cereal and is reported to be doing fine.

There are vendors in the US who sell VIRGIN coconut oil, which is processed by a labor intensive means that retains the original coconut scent. Most of this oil is made in the Philippines, (hence all the research done by the PCA), Indonesia and many Pacific Islands. There are several types of production methods that I've researched that I won't get into.

Tropical Traditions, based out of the US, is the first vendor to market virgin coconut oil. They sell a 454g tub (16 oz) for roughly 16-18 USD retail.

I have on occasion approached a few people in Guyana about producing this virgin coconut oil and it's an idea that I think falls flat because they don't have the research and they haven't seen the health benefits. From 2001 till now every health food store in the US now sticks virgin coconut oil or vco. There's already a lot of competition in the marketplace and there are brands all over the place, hence the commoditization of the product. However, if someone were interested in a VCO production in Guyana, I would like to be a part of it indeed.

There is only one producer of VCO in the Caribbean that I know of as of a few years ago when I last checked. It is a man in Jamaica who has a small setup and he sells his oil to a website firm in the US who sells it online.

Coconut oil does not contribute to heart disease in any way. US and Canadian Soy, Corn and Canola oil interests have banded together and spent large amounts of money to buy science supporting false claims against saturated fats in general. Our bodies use saturated fats structurally, to store energy and to perform bodily functions like absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere. Polyunsaturated fats weren't even considered food before WWII. Canola or rape seed oil was used in varnishes because since it is unsaturated, it oxidizes quickly and hardens. It is a fact that plaque tha collects and hardens in one's arteries isn't just cholesterol, it's OXIDIZED cholesterol. Saturated fat can't form plaque because it can't oxidize. Saturated means that there's no place for an oxygen molecule to attach itself.

Polynesians and native pacific peoples have used coconut oil for generations since time immemorial. It's never hurt them. They've only started getting obese when "White man's food" became their principal diet. Among Europeans and Americans, high incidence of heart disease only appeared after unsaturated plant fats replaced traditional dietary fats. I don't claim a complete causal relationship here, but it's part of the reason.

Any coconut oil that was scientifically proven to be harmful to humans or animals was HYDROGENATED. We now know that any hydrogenated oil is full of TFA's or trans-fatty acids. What's the difference between the hydrogenated coconut oil that we were told was evil (minus and not told all the information) and the Hydrogenated vegetable and cottonseed oil that Margarine and crisco are made from? Coconut oil is from abroad and must be imported and vegetable oil and cottonseed oil is from the US of A. Now you know........ the REST of the story.