Incorporating Medium Chain ‘fatty acids’ into Your Diet Helps Lose Body Fat

I am not a diabetic, but I think this is great to think about weather you are or aren't! I really like this company's products and the coconut oil is quite tasty! I can add this to oatmeal, and Kaileigh eats it right up. Virgin Coconut Oil is an extremely versatile and wonderfully delicious tasting oil. Good quality coconut oil is one of the most stable cooking oils, plus it's highly resistant to rancidity. There are many ways to incorporate coconut oil into your diet. It could be used anywhere you currently use any of the "seed" oils (soybean, corn, canola, safflower, sesame seed, sunflower seed); used as a butter for spreads, over popcorn, or for baking; used in soups or 'smoothies'; eaten right off the spoon; eaten as a "candy" or "white chocolate" when refrigerated or frozen; put in coffee or tea; mixed with peanut butter; etc. I can add this to oatmeal, and Kaileigh eats it right up.

A new study demonstrates that a diet rich in coconut oil protects against ‘insulin resistance’ (an impaired ability of cells to respond to insulin) in muscle and fat. The diet also avoids the accumulation of body fat caused by other high fat diets of similar calorie content. Together these findings are important because obesity and insulin resistance are major factors leading to the development of Type 2 diabetes.

The study is also interesting because it helps explain human studies showing that people who incorporate medium chain ‘fatty acids’, such as those found in coconut oil, into their diets can lose body fat.

Dr Nigel Turner and Associate Professor Jiming Ye, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, compared fat metabolism and insulin resistance in mice fed coconut oil and lard based diets. Their findings are now published online in the international journal Diabetes.

Unlike the long chain fatty acids contained in animal fats, medium chain fatty acids are small enough to enter directly, where they can then be converted to energy.

Unfortunately the downside to eating medium chain fatty acids is that they can lead to fat build up in the liver, an important fact to be taken into consideration by anyone considering using them as a weight loss therapy.

Fat storage is determined by the balance between how much fat is taken in by cells and how much of this fat is burned for energy. When people eat a high fat diet, their bodies attempt to compensate by increasing their capacity to oxidise fat. The medium chain fatty acid (coconut oil) diet was more effective at increasing the oxidative capacity of muscle than the long chain fatty acid (lard) diet leading to less fat storage in muscle and better insulin action.

The lard-based diet used in this research is similar to the diet eaten by people in the Western world. Its fatty acid composition is about 40% saturated fats, 40% monounsaturated fats and 20% polyunsaturated fats, of which the vast proportion is omega-6, rather than omega-3.

So at any rate, that is my 2 cents worth! You can check more out here. I just got a BUY 1 GET 1 FREE @ 12.95 special!!