Does Coconut Oil Benefit Your Baby's Health?

Separating the Hype from the Facts

One thing's for sure - coconut oil smells great. To me, it always smells like summer, due to one fantastic holiday I spent as a child on the New Zealand coast. The sunblock we used had coconut oil in it.

And now I have only to catch a faint whiff of it to summon up that whole sundrenched holiday, complete with canoe trips, swimming and many lazy afternoons in the hammock. So that's me - sold on coconut oil from the smell of a summer's holiday.

Now more importantly - the facts.

Coconut oil - is it healthy and helpful? We're going to look at the science-based evidence as well as the user-friendly evidence. And draw some conclusions.

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

The claims about coconut oil are many and various. I've been to forums where people claim it's cured everything from HIV to acne. Now, I can't judge for myself the facts behind these stories. However, it's important to look from many directions at a topic before making a decision.

If you were ever given formula as a baby you benefitted from coconut oil. Coconut oil has been added to baby formula for decades. This same oil is also used in hospitals to feed premature babies and severely injured people. (This is a fairly strong indication of its nutritional properties.)

It's used for such extreme cases because coconut nutrition greatly helps babies' growth and healing and it is very easily absorbed. Medical studies have shown that coconut oil can even be absorbed through the skin.

Premature babies massaged with coconut oil showed increased weight gain. So, after having a look at the circumstantial evidence, it seems coconut oil comes out a winner.

Cracking the Coconut Myth

Coconut oil is just now emerging from under the 'saturated fat is bad for you' craze of a few years ago.

So, coconut oil has saturated fat - but what exactly does it mean?

Well, there are Saturated Fats, and Un-saturated, and Trans Fats, and most of us have been lead to believe that saturated fats are Bad, and unsaturated fats are Good, and trans fats are Very Bad.

Which is close to, but not the whole truth.

Coconut oil is 90% saturated fat (0% trans fat.) But because of its molecular structure it doesn't really deserve to be lumped in with the 'Bad' saturated fats.

Unlike 98% of all other fats which are long-chain, coconut oil is a MCT, or medium-chain triglycerides (a different type of fat.) In fact, it's even used as an aid in weight loss.

So how do medium-chain triglycerides make coconut oil different? Unlike most fats, MCT fats are very easy to absorb.

This is evidenced in the fact the coconut oil is used to grow premature babies. They can absorb coconut fat more easily than any other. Really, it's fats that aren't absorbed which cause problems. (Actually, that's why fats are fattening. They don't get absorbed and used. They get stored - as fat.)

So, in conclusion, coconut oil can be great for your baby. It's a healthy, easily absorbed energy. It smells great, and can be used to help dry and irritable skin as well for massaging oil to relax and soothe your baby.

Links of Interest

The Coconut Research Center
Resource for all things Coconutish
All Recipes
Coconut Recipes
Coconut Oil Facts
Facts about Coconut Oil.
Coconut-Info
The place for information on the health benefits of coconut products
Coconut Oil - The Truth
Thai food and travel
A New Look at Coconut Oil
Mary Enig, PhD, - Know your Facts