The Real Coconut Oil Miracle: How A High Fat, High Calorie Condiment Was Turned Into A Super Food.Jeff Novick, MS, RDN
If you have seen my talk, From Oil to Nuts: The Essential Facts of Fats, I have told this story from the mid 1980's as it was happening and continued to tell the story as we have gone through each phase of this miracle. The real coconut oil miracle has nothing to do with any super magical nutritious healing property of coconut oil but how a high fat, high calorie condiment was turned into a super food.
Some BackgroundAround the turn of the century, Americans were using butter, lard, schmaltz (chicken fat) and other rendered animal fats as an ingredient in food and as a cooking medium. The good news about these foods/fats, they had many properties that make them excellent for these uses. They were able to withstand high heat, were very stable and had a creamy smooth texture. The bad news about these foods/fats, the same high level of saturated fat, made them harmful to our health. However, at the time, no one realized the negative impact of saturated fats on our health. The percentage of fat in the American diet stayed fairly consisted from 1900 to 1960.
The American Oil ChangeThings began changing in 1960s as by this time, we had learned of the negative impact of saturated fats on our health. The historical event that lead to the change in the 60’s was the 1961 AHA Central Advisory Statement that advised Americans to replace their saturated fat intake with polyunsaturated fats. Vegetable oils and, to a lesser extent, shortening and margarine were recommended as replacements for animal fats such as butter, cream, and cheese.
The best way to do this would have been to swap out foods rich in saturated fat, with foods rich in PUFAs. Instead of a breakfast of bacon and eggs, exchange it for one of oatmeal and fruit. Instead of saturated fats like butter and lard, exchange it for a liquid oil that was higher in PUFA's like soy oil, etc. By exchange, they meant on an equal calorie basis without increasing total calories.
Unfortunately, this is not what happened. No one wanted to change the food they were eating and no one wanted to use liquid PUFA's as they do not work as well in the food supply as saturated fats. They have a much lower smoke point, oxidize easily, are less stable, have a shorter shelf life and do not have that same creamy texture. However, if you partially hydrogenated them and made these liquid oils into margarine and shortening, these chemically altered fats then had the same beneficial characteristics of saturated fats. Therefore, increasing amounts of them ended up in the food supply but not on an equal calorie basis. Instead, we saw one the largest increases in calories, driven mostly by added fats since 1960. The 1961 AHA Central Advisory Statement preceded the largest increase in the consumption of soy oil (much of it partially hydrogenated) in the United States.
The Ticking Time BombSo, some of the saturated fat was replaced with shortening, margarine and other partially hydrogenated oils. As a result, trans fats intake went way up while saturated fat intake barely nudged down and total fat intake and calorie intakes shot up. That was not the intent of the 1961 AHA statement at all or the 1977 Senate Subcommittee hearings on Diet and Health or the 1980 Dietary Guidelines. What they did not realize at the time, was the way their recommendation would be interpreted and applied by the commercial food industry, thus releasing a ticking time-bomb into the food supply called trans-fat.
When the world of science and the food industry was first becoming aware of the problem with trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils, margarine and shortening, they began looking for a replacement. It had to have the same qualities as the animal fats high in saturated fat these trans fat-rich vegetable fats were designed to replace. It had to be stable, have a high smoke point, creamy texture, and a long shelf life. Many things were tried including different blends of oils, interesterified fats, & trans-fat free fully hydrogenated oils, etc. but nothing worked. In 2004, food companies and cities started banning trans fat and so the industry now had to find an immediate replacement for solid fats in the food supply.
They could not go back to butter or lard as they had already been shown to be harmful. Liquid oils don’t work unless they are solidified (hydrogenated) and then that creates trans-fat which are even more harmful than the saturated fat. The only remaining option immediately available that could fill the need and have the potential for great marketing (plant based, vegan, natural, cholesterol-free, etc.) were the tropical oils/fats. And perhaps, if possible give these plant sourced saturated fats in coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils a public relations make-over.
Mass Market ManiaLet's look at the original publication dates of the first mass market books that, “helped launch the consumer revolution," or so they say, of these saturated fat-rich tropical oils.
The original publication date of the Coconut Oil Miracle book by Bruce Fife, was 2004:
http://www.amazon.com/Coconut-Oil-Mirac ... 03&sr=1-20It is interesting to see that the books Bruce Fife was selling beforehand, were basically questionable get rich quick schemes.
- Get Published!: How to Break into Print With a Small Press and Become Rich and Famous
- Make Money Reading Books
- Dr. Dropo's balloon sculpturing for beginners
Bruce Fife may have known how to make balloon animals but he had no expertise in nutrition science.
The original publication date for Eat Fat, Lose Fat: Lose Weight and Feel Great with Three Delicious, Science-Based Coconut Diets by Sally Fallon was 2004
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Fat-Lose-Deli ... conut+dietThe original publication date of The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient That Helps You Lose Weight While You Eat Your Favorite Foods by Cherie Calbom and John Calbom was 2005
http://www.amazon.com/Coconut-Diet-Secr ... 8&sr=&qid=Before these misguided books, there was virtually no one else promoting the “miracle health benefits” of coconut and other tropical oils.
These misguided books helped create a huge diet fad and soon after their publication, the market was soon flooded with many more of them, each trying to outdo the previous authors in making even more fantastic claims about the supposed health benefits of coconut oil.
This coincides exactly with the time when the food industry was being forced to re-formulate its products or lose customers who were increasingly worried about the now dreaded and increasingly banned trans fats but yet were attracted to the now "healthy" tropical oils, especially coconut oil.
Industry ChangesLet's look at the timeline of the pressure on the food industry to reformulate its products and the resulting changes in the food industry
May, 2003, BanTransFats.com Inc., a U.S. non-profit corporation, filed a lawsuit against the food manufacturer Kraft Foods in an attempt to force Kraft to remove trans fats from the Oreo cookie.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/14/dinin ... -risk.html2003 - Loders Croklaan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia's IOI Group began providing trans fat free bakery and confectionery fats, made from palm oil, for giant food companies in the United States to make margarine.
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Market-Tre ... ree-demand2004 - The J.M. Smucker Company, American manufacturer of Crisco (the original partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening), released a new formulation made from solid saturated palm oil cut with soybean oil and sunflower oil.
http://web.archive.org/web/200610151925 ... avorId=344May, 2004, Unilever, announced that they have eliminated trans fats from all their margarine products in Canada. You can also see a list of other companies that have made public announcements about changes to their products.
http://web.archive.org/web/200709270937 ... nsfat.html2006, the Center for Science in the Public Interest sued KFC over its use of trans fats in fried foods.
http://www.cspinet.org/new/200606121.htmlIn response, KFC announced that it will replace the partially hydrogenated soybean oil it currently uses with a zero trans fat low linoleic soybean oil in all restaurants in the US by April 2007.
http://web.archive.org/web/200701191102 ... 103006.aspJune, 2006 - Wendy's announced plans to eliminate trans fats from 6,300 restaurants in the United States and Canada, starting in August 2006.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/in ... usat_x.htmOctober, 2006 - Walt Disney Company announced that they will begin getting rid of trans fats in meals at US theme parks by the end of 2007, and will stop the inclusion of trans fats in licensed or promotional products by 2008.
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200610/212/November, 2006, Taco Bell promises to remove trans fat from many of their menu items by switching to canola oil. By April 2007, 15 Taco Bell menu items were completely free of trans fat.
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/17 ... /fi-taco17January, 2007 - McDonald's announced they will start phasing out the trans fat in their fries
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16873869/#.VUDLL87MNssMay, 2007 - Burger King announced that its 7,100 US restaurants will begin the switch to zero trans fat oil by the end of 2007.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26994314/ns/h ... rans-fats/October, 2007- Chick-fil-A's menu becomes trans fat free.
http://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/no-tran ... k-fil-menuCity BansLet's look at the timeline of the first cities, counties and states to ban trans-fats
May, 2005 - Tiburon, California, became the first American city wherein all restaurants voluntarily cook with trans fat-free oils.
http://www.bantransfats.com/projecttiburon.htmlDecember, 2006 - The NYC board of health voted to ban trans fat in restaurant food
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pr2006/pr114-06.shtmlDecember, 2006 - Massachusetts state representative Peter Koutoujian filed the first state level legislation that would ban restaurants from preparing foods with trans fats
http://archive.wlbz2.com/news/local/sto ... ryid=47816February, 2007 - The Philadelphia City Council voted unanimously to pass a ban on trans fats
http://wayback.archive.org/web/20080126 ... 6361&rfi=6April, 2008 - Nassau County, a suburban county on Long Island, New York, banned trans fats in restaurants
http://www.soyatech.com/news_story.php?id=4724May, 2007 - Albany County of New York passed a ban on trans fats and the ban was adopted after a unanimous vote by the county legislature
http://www.albanycounty.com/Government/ ... nsfat.aspxJanuary, 2008 - San Francisco officially asked its restaurants to stop using trans fat.
http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/state ... atban.htmlThe Scientific Evidence For The Use of Coconut OilEven after the big mistake (and ticking time bomb) of recommending the substitution of hydrogenated oils into the food supply in 1961, you would figure they would be much more careful before recommending the substation of coconut oil into the food supply. Therefore, I searched the National Library of Medicine to see what published articles existed between 1985 and 2004 on coconut oil and human health to support this new recommendation. I found 5 related to heart disease and none of them were favorable. I didn't find any on Alzheimer's disease.
1) Reiser R, Probstfield JL, Silvers A, et al. Plasma lipid and lipoprotein response of humans to beef fat, coconut oil and safflower oil. Am J Clin Nutr. 1985 Aug;42(2):190-7.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4025191The test subjects in this study on coconut oil experienced a worsening of their total and LDL cholesterol levels.
2) Mendis S1, Kumarasunderam R. The effect of daily consumption of coconut fat and soya-bean fat on plasma lipids and lipoproteins of young normolipidaemic men. Br J Nutr. 1990 May;63(3):547-52.PMID: 2383532
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2383532Researchers found that during “the coconut-fat-eating phase total plasma cholesterol level increased significantly compared with the soya-bean-eating period. … Results of the present study show that even when the proportion of total fat in the diet is low … a high intake of saturated fat elevates both these lipid fractions."
3) Ganji V, Kies CV. Psyllium husk fiber supplementation to the diets rich in soybean or coconut oil: hypercholesterolemic effect in healthy humans. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 1996 Mar;47(2):103-10.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8833174In this study the investigators found that the “CO (coconut oil) diet increased serum cholesterol, LDL, and apo B.”
4) Zhang J, Kesteloot H. Differences in all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality between Honk Kong and Singapore: role of nutrition. Eur J Epidemiol. 2001;17(5)469-77.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11855581Investigators in this study found that ischemic heart disease mortality was approximately three times higher in both men and women in Singapore versus Hong Kong and that there was “…a higher consumption of coconut and palm oil, mainly containing saturated fat, in Singapore.”
5) Mendis S, Samarajeewa U, Thattil RO. Coconut fat and serum lipoproteins: effects of partial replacement with unsaturated fats. Brit J Nut. 2001;85:583-589.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11348573Researchers reduced the amount of coconut fat over time in the subjects and as they did, total cholesterol and LDL levels went down. The more they lowered the amount of coconut oil, the lower the total cholesterol and LDL went.
As we can see, there was absolutely no science behind the substitution of coconut oil into the food supply in 2004. Instead, it was a 100% industry driven issue and had nothing to do with health. Looks like another ticking time-bomb has been released into the food supply.
The Marketing Miracle of Coconut OilAs we just saw, from the early to mid 2000's, there was no credible science demonstrating the health benefits of coconut and other tropical oils. However, there was really good science and a growing body of evidence proving trans fats were unhealthy. From around 2003 to 2007 and beyond, there was growing pressure on the food industry to remove the now unquestionably bad trans fat. Everyone needed an immediate replacement, and tropical oils filled the bill perfectly thanks to the PR makeover by wannabe nutrition experts.
The main rise in these tropical fats, which started in 2004, was not science driven but consumer and industry driven based on their need and desire to keep eating the same processed/packaged junk foods they were hooked on.
Producing this much coconut oil created a lot of coconut by-products that the industry had to figure out a way to use. This is why shortly after the rise in coconut oil, we began to see the miracle of coconut water promoted as a sports and performance drink and soon after came the miracles of coconut sugar, coconut nectar, coconut syrup, coconut amino's, coconut mulch and finally, just in time for the grilling season, coconut briquets.
This story will one day be taught in a marketing class at the Wharton School of Business as the Marketing Miracle of Coconut Oil.
In Health
Jeff
Additional Article's on Coconut Oil
*Marketing Junk Food: Don't Go Cuckoo Over Coconut Oil - Jeff Novick, MS, RDN
http://www.jeffnovick.com/RD/Articles/E ... t_Oil.html*Coconut Oil: Lose weight? Cure Alzheimer's? Clog your arteries? - David Schardt, Center For Science In the Public Interest
http://www.cspinet.org/nah/articles/coconut-oil.html*More Quacks Go Cuckoo For Coconut
*Is Coconut Oil Slimming - Jay Kenney, PhD, FACN
http://district.schoolnutritionandfitne ... ng.Feb.pdf