By NELLY FAVIS-VILLAFUERTE
Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp
April 10, 2009, 6:03pm
With the permission of Bruce Fife, the author of the book titled “Coconut Cures” to reprint certain portions of his book, I am reproducing hereunder some interesting information about the healing power of virgin coconut oil.
“A century ago, heart disease was almost unheard. By 1950 it had become the leading cause of death in the United States as well as in many European countries. Like a plague it has spread to every corner on earth and is now the world’s number one killer. Traditionally, the islands of the Pacific have been relatively immune to this menace. Where people still depend on their traditional coconut-based diet, heart disease continues to be a rarity.
“Most medical professionals believe that heart disease is a consequence of diet and lifestyle. So, if you eat the right types of food, you can prevent a heart attack.
In this respect, coconut, and particularly coconut oil, appears to be an effective weapon against heart disease.
“Epidemiological (population) studies have shown that coconut-eating populations around the world have a remarkable immunity to heart disease. This immunity isn’t genetic but diet related. Shorlandand colleagues showed that Polynesian populations with high coconut consumption have lower blood cholesterol levels and lower incidence of atherosclerosis that Europeans and islanders who consume a Westernized diet.
“A major study was done on the populations of two remote Pacific Islands – Pukapuka and Tokelau. The entire populations of the islands took part in the study. The foods the people ate were carefully analyzed and their health evaluated. These people were chosen because they have remained relatively isolated from Western influences and maintained their traditional coconut-based diet. Coconut was their primary source of food and was eaten in one form or another at every meal and as a snack between meals.
The two populations derived 63 and 34 percent of their calories from coconut. The coconut oil they consumed in their diet amounted to over 100 grams a day, the equivalent to about half a cup. The researchers found that there was no evidence of coronary heart disease nor was there any evidence of diabetes, cancer, hypothyroidism or other health problems common in Western society.
“Despite the high amount of saturated fat in the islanders’ diet, their cholesterol levels were much lower than expected. Using the Key’s equation, which calculates cholesterol levels as a function of dietary fat intake, cholesterol levelswere predicted. The islander’s actual cholesterol levels, however, were on average 76 mg/dl lower than the predicted values - a huge difference.
“Coconut plays a central role in the diet of the people in the South Pacific island of Papua New Guinea. As with other island populations these people have been eating coconut for generations without a single reported case of a heart attack. If coconut oil contributes to heart disease, as many people have been led to believe, these people should be riddled with heart attacks and strokes, yet heart disease was completely unknown here until 1964 when the first case was reported. As the country has become more Westernized, coconut consumption has declined and heart disease cases have increased. All of these cases have been confined to major urban areas where dietary habits have become Westernized.
“A series of studies on relatively isolated populations in Papua New Guinea that have maintained their traditional coconut-based diets have found these people to be completely free from all signs of heart disease. For example, in one of the studies with 203 individuals, researchers reported the “nonexistence of stroke and ischemic heart disease” even in people as old as 86 years of age.
(To be continued)
Have a joyful day!
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