If you are a South Indian then you will definitely find it hard to imagine a life without coconut. Coconut rules our kitchen literally and who doesn’t love their paper thin dosa with spicy coconut chutney.

I never paid much attention to this coconut oil thing until the doctor hurt my grandfather’s ‘South Indian Pride’. The doctor had advised him to stop consuming coconut oil if he wanted to save himself from heart attack.

My septuagenarian grandpa came home fuming with anger and shouted,” He calls himself a doctor. He has no idea that my father had lived for a hundred years without any disease. And that was possible only due to our coconut oil”. After some research this is what I come across.

Coconut oil is produced mainly in tropical countries like India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines. In Sanskrit the coconut tree is referred to as ‘Kalpavriksha’ which means the provider of all the necessities of life. Every part of this tree is used in some or the other way.

It is not as if coconut oil is only used in tropical countries or coastal Africa. Coconut oil was also popular in western countries like U.S and Canada.

The corn and soy oil industry could not progress due to the presence of coconut oil and hence they led a strong propaganda against it during the 1970’s and demonized it forever.

The benefits of Coconut oil are certainly not questionable! Read below how you can employ Coconut Oil in case of common ailments or problems –

Coconut oil has a huge quantity of saturated fats, hence it has been considered as one of the bad oil that we must avoid. Believe me, it is all a ‘BIG’ misconception.

• The saturated fatty acid of this oil does not get merely stored in our body to form cholesterol. In fact, it is metabolized by our body (the liver does it for us) and converted into energy which we spend in our day-to-day activities. In this way fat is not accumulated in our body (provided we have enough activities to burn it out).
• Garvan Institute of Medical Research, which is Australia’s one of the leading biomedical research institute, conducted a study. According to which coconut oil is said to help in protecting against insulin resistance and thereby reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
• Coconut oil also helps in reducing the abdominal obesity.
• Fatty acids in this oil carry various microbial properties, when consumed it helps in curing many types of digestive disorders. It also boosts our immunity when consumed.
• The Lauric acid in coconut oil prevents many heart problems as cholesterol and hypertension. It is also a big misconception that coconut oil damages the arteries of our heart and clogs it.