SAVE the coconut!- Actual studies that AHA reviewed!

1Secondactcpa · 2017-06-22 10:03:17 UTC

I worked in pharma for 18 years- do not shoot me I have seen some studies that have made me scratch my head in the past. I have posted below the studies that were footnoted in this piece from the AHA- I am confused based on the science or lack of science:

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2017/06/15/CIR.0000000000000510.full.pdf?download=true

Frankly, I am discouraged from a number of the videos, blogs from some in our community (LCHF and Keto in general) stating that all these AHA people have major biases and are evil, etc. I would prefer for our community to look at the science…that is why I like this “Keto Dude” community so much. Please help me look at the science. I am a CPA that does financial planning and tax work- I am not an engineer:grimacing:

The science seems week and is based on the paradigm that LDL is everything and it is VERY BAD. Why is the science not the focus of our (communites) attacks versus- “everyone that did those studies work for vegetable oil companies… and smell…and kick their dogs, etc.?”

I think it is because it is hard to be Gary Taubes (and look at the research) and believing our own DOGMA (including me! YES I am lazy too).

I decided to look at some of the studies that were footnoted in the coconut oil section for the last hour, but now I have to get ready for work. I cannot see anything positive or negative- in fact, I do not see much of any evidence at all- that coconut oil is bad! I think the “Fat Heart Hypothesis Cardiology” doctors are still worried about any fat and they see the trends like “crazy people like us are drinking bullet proof coffee”. I do not think they are evil but their dogma and beliefs do NOT allow them to understand that low carb, high fat is different. My request to our group is to “Show me the science” and for an engineer or two review the data below and come up with good solid rebuttals to the AHA. If we like it or not- groups like the AHA are very influential and if we do not fight “their alleged facts” in a systematic, well thought-out approach, our mission to help others lose weight and get healthy will die just like Atkins group did for 10 years.

Here is the quote from the link I found for the AHA piece (containing some footnotes) on coconut oil

Another carefully controlled experiment found that coconut oil
significantly increased LDL cholesterol compared with
olive oil.96 A recent systematic review found 7 controlled
trials, including the 2 just mentioned, that compared
coconut oil with monounsaturated or polyunsaturated
oils.97 Coconut oil raised LDL cholesterol in all 7 of these
trials, significantly in 6 of them. The authors also noted
that the 7 trials did not find a difference in raising LDL
cholesterol between coconut oil and other oils high in
saturated fat such as butter, beef fat, or palm oil. Clinical
trials that compared direct effects on CVD of coconut oil
and other dietary oils have not been reported. However,
because coconut oil increases LDL cholesterol, a cause
of CVD, and has no known offsetting favorable effects,
we advise against the use of coconut oil

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of coconut oil, butter, and safflower oil on lipids and lipoproteins in persons with moderately elevated cholesterol levels.

C Cox, J Mann, W Sutherland, A Chisholm and M Skeaff, Journal of lipid research, Aug 1995

The physiological effects of coconut oil, butter, and safflower oil on lipids and lipoproteins have been compared in moderately hypercholesterolemic individuals. Twenty eight participants (13 men, 15 women) followed three 6-week experimental diets of similar macronutrient distribution with the different test fats providing 50% total dietary fat. Total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly higher (P < 0.001) on the diet containing butter [6.8 +/- 0.9, 4.5 +/- 0.8 mmol/l] (mean +/- SD), respectively than on the coconut oil diet (6.4 +/- 0.8; 4.2 +/- 0.7 mmol/l) when levels were significantly higher (P < 0.01) than on the safflower diet (6.1 +/- 0.8; 3.9 +/- 0.7 mmol/l). Findings with regard to the other measures of lipids and lipoproteins were less consistent. Apolipoprotein A-I was significantly higher on coconut oil (157 +/- 17 mg/dl) and on butter (141 +/- 23 mg/dl) than on safflower oil (132 +/- 22 mg/dl). Apolipoprotein B was also higher on butter (86 +/- 20 mg/dl) and coconut oil (91 +/- 32 mg/dl) than on safflower oil (77 +/- 19 mg/dl). However gender differences were apparent. In the group as a whole, high density lipoprotein did not differ significantly on the three diets whereas levels in women on the butter and coconut oil diet were significantly higher than on the safflower oil diet. Triacylglycerol was higher on the butter diet than on the safflower and coconut oil diets but the difference only reached statistical significance in women. Cholesteryl ester transfer activity was significantly higher on butter than safflower oil in the group as a whole and in women.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Diets high in palmitic acid (16:0), lauric and myristic acids (12:0 + 14:0), or oleic acid (18:1) do not alter postprandial or fasting plasma homocysteine and inflammatory markers in healthy Malaysian adults.

PT Voon, TK Ng, VK Lee and K Nesaretnam, The American journal of clinical nutrition, Dec 2011

Dietary fat type is known to modulate the plasma lipid profile, but its effects on plasma homocysteine and inflammatory markers are unclear.We investigated the effects of high-protein Malaysian diets prepared with palm olein, coconut oil (CO), or virgin olive oil on plasma homocysteine and selected markers of inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in healthy adults.A randomized-crossover intervention with 3 dietary sequences of 5 wk each was conducted in 45 healthy subjects. The 3 test fats, namely palmitic acid (16:0)-rich palm olein (PO), lauric and myristic acid (12:0 + 14:0)-rich CO, and oleic acid (18:1)-rich virgin olive oil (OO), were incorporated at two-thirds of 30% fat calories into high-protein Malaysian diets.No significant differences were observed in the effects of the 3 diets on plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and the inflammatory markers TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and interferon-γ. Diets prepared with PO and OO had comparable nonhypercholesterolemic effects; the postprandial total cholesterol for both diets and all fasting lipid indexes for the OO diet were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than for the CO diet. Unlike the PO and OO diets, the CO diet was shown to decrease postprandial lipoprotein(a).Diets that were rich in saturated fatty acids prepared with either PO or CO, and an OO diet that was high in oleic acid, did not alter postprandial or fasting plasma concentrations of tHcy and selected inflammatory markers. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00941837.

And this review article shows just how difficult it is to do “nutrition science”- the authors exclude many studies (maybe for good reason and discuss LDL, HDL and TC going up on Coconut oil but also with butter- so what?:

carolT · 2017-06-22 13:42:17 UTC

I think a large part is that they do not take into account the combination of fats plus carbs, or even the quality of carbs. You can’t be high carb and expect to see normal fat metabolism in rats or people. That, and they always assume LDL = CVD without question.

1Secondactcpa · 2017-06-22 15:31:00 UTC

@carolT
Thanks for the feedback. It is a bit crazy that we believe something completely different from a group of Cards but I believe (after much study) that low carb high fat is very safe. My LDL has gone up by 5%, my HDL has gone up too- and all my other bio markers have improved greatly. They are probably worried about the Standard American Diet with a great amount of coconut oil and that may NOT be safe.

Stephen · 2018-08-22 07:05:42 UTC

Just saw a news article saying how bad coconut oils are. Bs about pure poison. Sigh. Saw it’s the AHA saying it. And that it’s because saturated fats are pure poison blah blah. Wish they would stop posting their opinions as if it were science.
Might just go back to not reading the news. Lol