The American Soybean Association is considered one of the main suspects in “baiting” coconut oil and spreading unconfirmed rumors about its health hazards.
The “war on tropical oils” began in the 1980s in the United States, when headlines fueled by the soy industry collectively shouted that coconut oil, which is made up of unsaturated fats, was dangerous. The result was not long in coming. Everyone from American food conglomerates to chefs in local restaurants and bakeries have switched to hydrogenated soybean oil. Later, the information about “coconut poison” was never confirmed, and with each new study, on the contrary, soy products looked less and less attractive and healthy for the environment and the human body, which subsequently led to a drop in their popularity rating. However, the seed of lies fell on fertile ground.
In 1994, the Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a warning that movie theater popcorn was “dangerously oversaturated with coconut oil,” conflating fat-saturated foods with foods full of unsaturated fats in its categorical judgment. At that time, scientists tried to convey information about the incorrect interpretation of the concept of “saturated and unsaturated fats”, “bad” and “good” cholesterol, but panic is a contagious thing, besides, most people prefer to take the word of the media instead of delve into the study of the source of information and verify its veracity.
Many experienced medical and scientific people, including cardiac surgeons and Alzheimer’s researchers, eventually came to the defense of coconut oil, if only to reduce the panic that arose after the “popcorn that drowned in movie theater oil.” Among other things, the investigation into the premature death of popcorn revealed that most research on coconut oil was conducted using partially hydrogenated coconut oil, which has been chemically treated and has a completely different effect on our health than organic cold-pressed coconut oil. Here, I would have sued the movie theaters that, in order to save money, purchase a low-quality product that is dangerous for health, but the case quickly died down.
To this day, coconut oil has its skeptics, haters and fans, and the attitude towards it ranges from hate to love, but after thousands of years of use, this natural product is still rightfully considered “pharmacy in a jar”.
To use it or not is your right and your choice. Only when buying coconut oil, please pay attention to the composition of the product, giving preference to organic, without impurities and additives, confirmed by quality certificates of oils, in order to protect yourself from dangerous fakes and not to complain about the magical coconut!
