Sreemoyee Chatterjee
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Written By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published : August 23, 2018 4:57 PM IST
Till now coconut oil in India has been considered to be one of the active agents boosting body immunity and it had gained super food status in 2011, according to media reports. However, recently, a professor from Harvard University has highlighted it as a danger to the health and tagged it as the 'worst food' one can consume in a viral video talk that was later reported by the USA Today. Karin Michels, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, in her video talk reportedly said: "I can only warn you urgently about coconut oil. This is one of the worst foods you can eat. Coconut oil is pure poison." Supporting her claims, she highlighted that coconut oil is that is most popular in the southern part of our country, especially in Kerala, is very rich in saturated fat, as high as 80%, according to the American Heart Association (AHA), which is much higher than the saturated fat present in butter, beef fat and pork lard.
According to public health experts, saturated fat content as much as 80% as in coconut oil is extremely dangerous for heart health as it leads to an increase on the level of bad cholesterol that blocks arteries and veins, thereby shooting up the risk of heart attack and hypertension.
However, coconut oil can be used occasionally as along with bad cholesterol, it also helps in adding to good cholesterol levels in your blood. Walter C Willet, a doctor at Harvard School of Public Health, stated in the university's newsletter: "What's interesting about coconut oil is that it also gives good HDL cholesterol a boost. Fat in the diet, whether saturated or unsaturated, tends to nudge HDL levels up, but coconut oil seems to be especially potent at doing so."
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