The use of coconut oil has become more and more popular over the past couple years. People have come up with many, many uses for this product and it’s amazing how beneficial it actually is. There are always different posts on Facebook, Pinterest, and more that are titled “100 ways to use coconut oil” or “500 ways coconut oil is beneficial”. I always end up reading every single post and every single one of the ways coconut oil can be used or how its beneficial.

Only recently have I been really into using coconut oil and I use it so often. I mostly use it on my face, primarily as a make-up remover but also just as a kind of lotion before I go to bed so that I can wake up with a flawless face. I have also used it in my hair to make it super silky and soft. So far I haven’t used it for many things yet, but coconut oil can be used for a wide variety of things from health benefits to beauty care to cleaning uses and so on.

 

Uses

As I have already mentioned, there are way too many uses for coconut oil and I could not list them all here. Some uses include (Wellness Mama):

Cooking Uses:

1. Add to food for energy
2. Use as a replacement to other oils such as vegetable oil
3. Try making coconut clusters
4. Use in foods as a brain boosting snack

Health Benefits:

1. Can help speed up weight loss
2. Can help improve sleep
3. Can relieve pain
4. Can get rid of cellulite

Beauty Uses:

1. Can be used as a lotion
2. Eye/ face make-up remover
3. Can increase sun tolerance and avoid burn
4. Can be rubbed on lips as a natural lip balm

Around the House Uses:

1. Can be used as hand soap
2. Used in laundry
3. Rub on leather couches to soften
4. Can be used as a bug repellant

Here is an article that lists many of the ways coconut oil can be used and how beneficial they are.

How many types of coconut oil are there?

Believe it or not there are many different types of coconut oil! There is unrefined organic coconut oil, extra virgin coconut oil, refined coconut oil, and also fractionated oil (Wellness Mama). Each oil has different ways of being produced and has different components to them. Coconut oil is said to have many great benefits, but depending on what you would like to use it for depends on which type of oil you choose. The certain types have varying benefits and ways to use. For example, extra virgin oil would be used in food and cooking as opposed to standard olive oils (Wellness Mama). For any uses internally the best types to use would be the unrefined organic oil whereas refined types or fractionated types are best for external use (Wellness Mama).

How could it be so beneficial?

A big contributor to coconut oil being super beneficial is the unique composition, meaning everything it is made up off. About 92% of coconut oil is saturated fat, which may seem very worrying since saturated fats are more times than not, not good for you (Wellness Mama). Many people have been avoiding it and actually advising against coconut oil for that reason. Recent research however has proven that being misled about coconut oil is unnecessary. The reasoning is because most of the fats that are in coconut oil are saturated but are in the form of Medium Chain Triglycerides and they affect the body differently than short and long chain fats (Wellness Mama). Essentially this means that the structure of the fat found in coconut oil is different than traditional oils making it a better option.

Studies

There have been many different studies done to prove some of the many benefits of coconut oil. One of those studies was done associating the connection between coconut oil and cardiovascular disease. There were 40 participants in this clinical trial. Over the course of 12 weeks they were either given 2 tablespoons of soybean oil a day or 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (Ware). At the end of the 12 weeks, it was found that the participants who had 2 tablespoons of soybean oil a day had a decrease in HDL, good cholesterol, and an increase in their LDL, bad cholesterol (Ware). A decrease in HDL and an increase of LDL are signs that put someone at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Another trial gave participants 18-24 grams of the fat contained in coconut oil a day to consume during a 16-week weight loss program (Ware). The results concluded that more weight loss and even fat loss was found in those who consumed the coconut oil compared to the other half of participants who consumed olive oil (Ware).

Conclusion

To conclude, it seems that coconut oil is beneficial in every way possible ranging from being used as a make-up remover to helping prevent heart disease. In the past coconut oil was shunned upon but numerous studies have proven that it is beneficial in thousands of ways. There seems to have been no trials proving that coconut oil doesn’t work. That leads to the question, what does coconut oil not do?!

Works Cited

Ware, Megan. “Coconut Oil: Health Benefits, Nutritional Breakdown, Risks …” Medical News Today. MNT, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

Wellness Mama. “101 Best Coconut Oil Uses and Benefits for Home and Beauty.” Wellness Mama. Wellness Mama, 11 Oct. 2016. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.