Safe, Natural Alternative Ingredients to Hydrate, Moisturize & Protect Skin: Coconut Oil, A Fat Like No Other

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At one time, coconut oil was mistakenly believed to be unhealthy because of its high saturated fat content (a whopping 92%), but we now know that the fat in coconut oil is a unique one – different from most all other fats – that possesses many healthful properties.

All fats and oils are composed of molecules called fatty acids. There are two ways of classifying fatty acids. The first is based on saturation in which you have saturated fats and unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). The other is a system of classification based on molecular size or the length of the carbon chain within each fatty acid. If I can get technical here for a minute … fatty acids consist of long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached. So you have short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Coconut oil is composed mainly of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), also known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT).

The vast majority of fats and oils in the American diet, whether they are saturated or unsaturated or come from animals or plants, are composed of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). The size of the fatty acid is extremely important, because our bodies respond to and metabolize each fatty acid differently depending on its size. So the physiological effects of MCFA in coconut oil are distinctly different from those of the LCFA more commonly found in our foods. The saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are predominately medium-chain fatty acids. Both the saturated and unsaturated fat found in meat, milk, eggs, and plants (including most all vegetable oils) are composed of LCFA.

As a saturated fat consisting primarily of medium chain fatty acids (MCTs), coconut oil is not easily oxidized, more easily metabolized, and does not cause harmful free radical damage like polyunsaturated vegetable oils. This is true whether the oil is ingested or applied topically.