Conventional coconut oil —the kind used in some candies, coffee creamers, and movie theater popcorn—is made from dried coconut that is pulverized, cooked, and treated with chemicals to produce a bleached, refined oil for use in foods.
"It's bad stuff," says Cornell University researcher Tom Brenna. "This kind of coconut oil jacks up cholesterol levels in laboratory animals like rats, rabbits, and hamsters, which scientists use to study the effects of fats in humans."
About ten years ago, "virgin" coconut oil started to become a popular alternative. "It's made with a mild extraction procedure from fresh coconut meat," says Brenna. "You purée it, heat it gently, and skim off the fat that rises to the top."
Proponents of this "cold-pressed" virgin coconut oil say that it's a healthier, more natural fat than conventional coconut oil.
Which oil to use or buy?
For one thing, both virgin and conventional coconut oils contain the same saturated fats. In fact, their chemical compositions are so similar that only trained experts can tell them apart, using color, aroma, and taste.
As you examine your choices for coconut oil in the market today, your choice will largely be determined by how you intend to use the oil, and your budget. If you want the highest quality virgin coconut oil possible, this chart summarizes what is currently available in the market and rated on a scale of 1 to 10.
The general impression is that cooking at high temperatures would degrade the quality of the oil but, it is not applicable to coconut oil which is thermally stable.
An article was published in The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka, October 16, 2011 – “Coconut Oil: It’s good for your after all,” by Kumudini Hettiarachchi and Shaveen Jeewandara informing that the most of the phenolic anti-oxidants present in coconut oil are thermally highly stable.
They pointed out and explained the reason for a greater composition of anti-oxidants as a result by simmering for a long time at a high temperature which dissolved more anti-oxidants into the oil.
In 2013, another study conducted in India also showed that virgin coconut oils produced by wet-milling and using heat produce higher levels of antioxidants.
The increased polyphenol level in the HEVCO (hot extracted virgin coconut oil) group may be due to increased release of bound polyphenols by heating. Coconut milk is an emulsion of oil and water that is stabilized by protein. To recover the oil from coconut milk, the protein bond has to be broken by heat in a double walled boiler known as a VCO cooker.
REFERENCE :
1) http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/629329/
2) http://www.cspinet.org/nah/articles/coconut-oil.html
3) http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v63/n2s/full/1602976a.html
4) http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1092-coconut%20oil.aspx?
activeingredientid=1092&activeingredientname=coconut%20oil
5) http://www.itworks.com.my/health-diagnosis/heart-disease.html
6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20645831
7) http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/the-coconut-oil-myths-exposing-some-common-myths-
surrounding-coconut-oil/
8) http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/629329/
9) http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/study-virgin-coconut-oil-effective-in-treating-high-blood-
pressure/
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