Coconut Controversy: Issues of Coconut Oil and Leaky Gut (#162)

Health food tends to run in trends. At the moment coconut is king. But just as we live in a material world with two sides to everything, it appears there may be a “shadow side” to coconut oil—for some patients. You will learn Dr. Berkson’s conclusions from first hearing this at an A4M Anti-aging Gastroenterology module she was both a professor and student at, along with “sleuthing’ the science. In this show you will learn: What is intestinal permeability and why is “Goldilocks” just right permeability critical. What is coconut fat and how is this saturated fat very different from animal saturated fat. What is LPS and endotoxins. How to test for LPS and which labs do it. How different oils effect this. How different oils effect how we absorb sugar from food. Who should be very moderate if not avoid coconut oil and who doesn’t need to. What might coconut oil do to the gut wall and what are the studies suggesting this. What might coconut oil to the colonic microbiome and what are the studies suggesting this. Where is the Department of Nutrition that 1st published a pig and now a human study looking at every hour, up to five hour, blood levels of endotoxins, after consuming coconut oil. This does not reflect food. This probably does not reflect MTC oils. The gut and gut wall benefit of spore probiotics. The role of dietary fats and fatty liver. A few interesting citations: Lipids Health Dis. 2016 Nov 5;15(1):186. Postprandial serum endotoxin in healthy humans is modulated by dietary fat in a randomized, controlled, cross-over study. BMC genomics 19 (1), 808  2018 Nov 7 Differential Effects of Coconut Versus Soy Oil on Gut Microbiota Composition and Predicted Metabolic Function in Adult Mice J Med Food 2019 Dec 3 Virgin Coconut Oil Associated With High-Fat Diet Induces Metabolic Dysfunctions, Adipose Inflammation, and Hepatic Lipid Accumulation Influencia de la ingesta de aceites vegetales en la absorción intestinal de glucosa in vitro en hamster dorado [Influence of intake of vegetable oils on the in vitro intestinal absorption of glucose in golden hamsters]. Arch Latinoam Nutr. 1995;45(4):290–294.