Why is Coconut Oil Good For You? The Healthiest Oil for Cooking

Why is Coconut Oil Good For You? The Healthiest Oil for Cooking:

By Kris Gunnars |

3,123,831 

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Coconut oil is one of the few foods that can be classified as a “superfood.”

Its unique combination of fatty acids can have profound positive effects on health.

This includes fat loss, better brain function and various other amazing benefits.

Here are the top 10 health benefits of coconut oil that have been experimentally confirmed in human studies.

1. Coconut Oil Contains a Unique Combination of Fatty Acids With Powerful Medicinal Properties

Coconut oil has been demonized in the past because it contains saturated fat. In fact, coconut oil is one of the richest sources of saturated fat known to man, with almost 90% of the fatty acids in it being saturated (1).

However, new data is showing that saturated fats are harmless. Many massive studies that include hundreds of thousands of people prove that the whole “artery-clogging” idea was a myth (2).

Additionally, coconut oil doesn’t contain your average run-of-the-mill saturated fats like you would find in cheese or steak.

No, they contain so-called Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) – which are fatty acids of a medium length.

Most of the fatty acids in the diet are long-chain fatty acids, but the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are metabolized differently.

They go straight to the liver from the digestive tract, where they are used as a quick source energy or turned into so-called ketone bodies, which can have therapeutic effects on brain disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.

Bottom Line: Coconut oil contains a lot of medium chain triglycerides, which are metabolized differently and can have therapeutic effects on several brain disorders.

2. Populations That Eat a LOT of Coconut Are Among The Healthiest People on The Planet

Coconut is kind of an “exotic” food in the Western world, primarily consumed by health conscious people.

However, in some parts of the world, coconut is a dietary staple that people have thrived on for many generations.

The best example of such a population is theTokelauans, which live in the South Pacific.

They eat over 60% of their calories from coconuts and are the biggest consumers of saturated fat in the world.

These people are in excellent health, with no evidence of heart disease (3).

Another example of a population that eats a lot of coconut and remains in excellent health is the Kitavans (4).

Bottom Line: Plenty of populations around the world have thrived for multiple generations eating massive amounts of coconut.

3. Coconut Oil Can Increase Your Energy Expenditure, Helping You Burn More Fat

Obesity is currently one of the biggest health problems in the world.

While some people think obesity is only a matter of calories, others (myself included) believe that the sources of those calories are critical too.

It is a fact that different foods affect our bodies and hormones in different ways. In this regard, a calorie is NOT a calorie.

The medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) in coconut oil can increase energy expenditure compared to the same amount of calories from longer chain fats (5, 6).

One study found that 15-30 grams of MCTs per day increased 24 hour energy expenditure by 5%, totalling about 120 calories per day (7).

Bottom Line: The medium chain triglycerides in coconut oil have been shown to increase 24 hour energy expenditure by as much as 5%, potentially leading to significant weight loss over the long term.

4. The Lauric Acid in Coconut Oil Can Kill Bacteria, Viruses and Fungi, Helping to Stave Off Infections

Almost 50% of the fatty acids in coconut oil is the 12-carbon Lauric Acid.

When coconut oil is enzymatically digested, it also forms a monoglyceride called monolaurin.

Both lauric acid and monolaurin can kill harmful pathogens like bacteria, viruses and fungi (8).

For example, these substances have been shown to kill the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus (a very dangerous pathogen) and the yeast Candida Albicans, a common source of yeast infections in humans (9, 10).

Bottom Line: The fatty acids and breakdown products in coconut oil can kill harmful pathogens, potentially helping to prevent infections.

5. Coconut Oil Can Kill Your Hunger, Making You Eat Less Without Even Trying

One interesting feature of coconut oil is that it can reduce your hunger.

This may be related to the way the fatty acids in it are metabolized, because ketone bodies can have an appetite reducing effect (11).

In one study, varying amounts of medium and long chain triglycerides were fed to 6 healthy men.

The men eating the most MCTs ate 256 fewer calories per day, on average (12).

Another study in 14 healthy men discovered that those who ate the most MCTs at breakfast ate significantly fewer calories at lunch (13).

These studies were small and only done for a short period of time. If this effect were to persist over the long term, it could have a dramatic influence on body weight over a period of several years.

Bottom Line: The fatty acids in coconut oil can significantly reduce appetite, which may positively affect body weight over the long term.

6. The Fatty Acids in Coconut Oil Are Turned into Ketones, Which Can Reduce Seizures

A so-called ketogenic (very low carb, very high fat) diet is currrently being studied to treat various disorders.

The best known therapeutic application of this diet is treating drug-resistant epilepsy in children (14).

This diet involves eating very little carbohydrates and large amounts of fat, leading to greatly increased concentrations ofketone bodies in the blood.

For some reason, this diet can dramatically reduce the rate of seizures in epileptic children, even those who haven’t had success with multiple different types of drugs.

Because the MCTs in coconut oil get shipped to the liver and turned into ketone bodies, they are often used in epileptic patients to induce ketosis while allowing for a bit more carbs in the diet (15, 16).

Bottom Line: The MCTs in coconut oil can increase blood concentration of ketone bodies, which can help reduce seizures in epileptic children.

7. Coconut Oil Can Improve Blood Cholesterol Levels and May Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

Coconut oil is loaded with saturated fats, which actually do not harm the blood lipid profile like previously thought.

Saturated fats raise HDL (the good) cholesterol and change the LDL cholesterol to a benign subtype (17, 18).

In one study in 40 women, coconut oil reduced Total and LDL cholesterol while increasing HDL compared to soybean oil (19).

There are also rat studies showing that coconut oil reduces triglycerides, total and LDL cholesterol, increases HDL and improves blood coagulation factors and antioxidant status (20, 21).

This improvement in cardiovascular risk factors should theoretically lead to a reduced risk of heart disease over the long term.

Bottom Line: Studies in both humans and rats show that coconut oil improves important risk factors like Total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, which may translate to a reduced risk of heart disease.

8. Coconut Oil Can Protect Hair Against Damage, Moisturize Skin and Function as Sunscreen

Coconut oil can serve various purposes that have nothing to do with eating it.

Many people are using it for cosmetic purposes and to improve the health and appearance of their skin and hair.

Studies on individuals with dry skin show that coconut oil can improve the moisture and lipid content of the skin (22).

Coconut oil can also be very protective against hair damage and one study shows effectiveness as sunscreen, blocking about 20% of the sun’s ultraviolet rays (23, 24)

Another application is using it like mouthwash in a process called oil pulling, which can kill some of the harmful bacteria in the mouth, improve dental health and reduce bad breath (25, 26, 27).

Bottom Line: Coconut oil can be applied topically as well, studies showing it to be effective as a skin moisturizer and protecting against hair damage. It can also be used as a mild form of sunscreen and as mouthwash.

9. The Fatty Acids in Coconut Oil Can Boost Brain Function in Alzheimer’s Patients

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia worldwide and occurs primarily in elderly individuals.

In Alzheimer’s patients, there appears to be a reduced ability to use glucose for energy in certain parts of the brain.

Ketone bodies can supply energy for the brain and researchers have speculated that ketones can provide an alternative energy source for these malfunctioning cells and reduce symptoms of Alzheimer’s (28).

In one 2006 study, consumption of medium chain triglycerides led to immediate improvement in brain function in patients with milder forms of Alzheimer’s (29).

Other studies support these findings and medium chain triglycerides are being intensively studied as potential therapeutic agents in Alzheimer’s disease (30, 31).

Bottom Line: Studies show that the fatty acids in coconut oil can increase blood levels of ketone bodies, supplying energy for the brain cells of Alzheimer’s patients and relieving symptoms.

10. Coconut Oil Can Help You Lose Fat, Especially The Dangerous Fat in Your Abdominal Cavity

Given that coconut oil can reduce appetite and increase fat burning, it makes sense that it can also help you lose weight.

Coconut oil appears to be especially effective in reducing abdominal fat, which lodges in the abdominal cavity and around organs.

This is the most dangerous fat of all and is highly associated with many Western diseases.

Waist circumference is easily measured and is a great marker for the amount of fat in the abdominal cavity.

A study in 40 women with abdominal obesity, supplementing with 30 mL (1 ounce) ofcoconut oil per day lead to a significant reduction in both BMI and waist circumference in a period of 12 weeks (19).

Another study in 20 obese males noted a reduction in waist circumference of 2.86 cm (1.1 inches) after 4 weeks of 30 mL (1 ounce) of coconut oil per day (32).

This number may not seem too impressive on the surface, but be aware that these people aren’t adding exercise or restricting calories. They’re losing significant amounts of abdominal fat simply by adding coconut oil to their diet.

11. Anything Else?

If you want to buy coconut oil, then there is an excellent selection on Amazon with thousands of customer reviews that are fun to browse through.

It is also available in most health food stores.

If you want to enjoy the health benefits outlined in the article, then you must get organic, virgin coconut oil… NOT the refined stuff.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg. People are using coconut oil for all sorts of things with incredible success.

Feel free to add to the list in the comments!

Oil Pulling With Coconut Oil Can Transform Your Dental Health

Oil Pulling With Coconut Oil Can Transform Your Dental Health

By Kris Gunnars | 

2,189,824 

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I love it when I learn new things from the comments people leave on my site.

About two weeks ago, I wrote an article about coconut oil – an awesome tropical oil with many health benefits.

A few people commented that they use coconut oil for something called Oil Pulling – which is kind of like using an oil as mouthwash.

Apparently, there are quite a few studies that support this process and a lot of people swear by it.

It is claimed to whiten your teeth, make your breath fresher and lead to massive improvements in oral health.

I have now been doing this every morning for about 10 days… and I am impressed.

What is Oil Pulling and How Does it Work?

Oil pulling involves swishing oil around the mouth and has been used for thousands of years as an Indian folk remedy.

In order to oil pull, you put a tablespoon of oil in your mouth, then swish it around for 15-20 minutes.

The main benefit of doing this, is that it reduces the amount of harmful bacteria in the mouth.

There are actually thousands of different types of bacteria in the mouth. Some of them are friendly, others are not.

The bacteria in the mouth create a “biofilm” on the teeth – a thin layer that they use to adhere to the surface. This is what we know as “plaque.”

Having some plaque on your teeth is normal, but if it gets out of hand it can cause all sorts of problems, including bad breath, yellow teeth, gum inflammation, gingivitis and cavities.

The way oil pulling works is simple. When you swish the oil around your mouth, the bacteria “get stuck” in it and dissolve in the liquid oil.

Basically, you remove a large amount of the bacteria and plaque in your mouth each time you do this.

I Personally Prefer Coconut Oil

Traditionally, the Indians used other oils such as sesame oil or sunflower oil.

Oil pulling should work with pretty much any oil you choose, but I prefer coconut oil because it has many health benefits.

The Lauric Acid (one of the fatty acids in coconut oil) is also proven to be antimicrobial… it can kill bacteria, viruses and fungi (1, 2).

The taste of coconut oil is also fairly pleasant compared to other oils. I found it rather disgusting at first having my mouth full of oil, but I got used to it after a few days.

Now let’s look at a few studies on oil pulling…

Oil Pulling Can Reduce Harmful Bacteria in The Mouth

Streptococcus Mutans is one of the main bacteria in the mouth and a key player in plaque buildup and tooth decay.

In a study from 2008 with 20 boys, oil pulling (using sesame oil) caused a reduction in the number of Streptococcus Mutans in the plaque in as little as 2 weeks (3).

It was not as effective as a Chlorhexidine mouthwash, but much cheaper and MUCH less nasty.

Oil Pulling Can Reduce Plaque and Gingivitis

Gingivitis is caused by inflammation of the gums and happens when the immune system starts attacking the bacteria in the plaque.

Another study compared oil pulling and chlorhexidine in adolescents with plaque-induced gingivitis. Both oil pulling and chlorhexidine mouthwash were effective against gingivitis (4).

Oil Pulling Can Reduce Bad Breath

Bad breath, otherwise known as halitosis, is in many cases (not all) caused by the smell of chemicals and gases produced by bacteria in the mouth.

It makes sense that if you get rid of some of these bacteria, you reduce bad breath.

In a third study of 20 adolescents, oil pulling therapy significantly reduced all markers for bad breath and was just as effective as chlorhexidine mouthwash (5).

How to Oil Pull

Oil pulling is incredibly simple and effective.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Put about a tablespoon of oil in your mouth.
2. Swish the oil around your mouth for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Spit out the oil, then brush your teeth.

If you use coconut oil like me, then you may have to chew on the oil for a minute or so to let it melt, because it is solid at room temperature.

It is best to do this on an empty stomach, before you brush your teeth. I prefer to do it while I take a shower in the morning.

I put the oil in my mouth, swish it around while in the shower and try to “push” and “pull” the oil between my teeth.

When I get out of the shower I spit out the oil into the trash or toilet (not the sink… it can clog), rinse my mouth with water and then brush my teeth.

There is no need to use a lot of force here, if oil pulling causes pain in your facial muscles then just relax a bit. Try using less oil next time and don’t swish it around too forcefully.

What to Expect

I’ve been doing this for about 10 days now.

I’ve definitely noticed that my breath is fresher and my teeth look a lot cleaner… both whiter and more shiny.

I’ve never had any dental problems, but I can see how this could have benefits for people that have them.

There are a lot of wild claims about oil pulling online and I don’t believe all of them.

However, oil pulling IS effective at reducing the harmful bacteria in your mouth and improving oral and dental health.

Given that inflammation can cause all sorts of health problems, it does make sense that reducing inflammation in the gums and mouth could lead to benefits for overall health as well.

Perhaps this is the reason why many people report improvements in health issues that really have nothing to do with the mouth.

Anyway… I have to say that I am really surprised at how effective this is. I plan to continue doing this for a long time.

The Bulletproof Diet is everything wrong with eating in America - Vox

The Bulletproof Diet is everything wrong with eating in America - Vox

When I first heard about the Bulletproof Diet — the "revolutionary"
plan for weight loss — I tried to turn a blind eye. I really did.

But then, there were rumblings around the newsroom. "My Silicon
Valley Facebook friends are posting about it a lot," said one colleague.
Another wanted to know whether there was any science to the claims that
butter-laden coffee could actually help achieve a new level of mental
clarity. When the "cult" turned up in the New York Times, my editor said we should be writing about it, too.

I've
spent a lot of time thinking about diet and, unsurprisingly, came to
Bulletproof with a skeptical eye. But even I was blown away by how
science-y it is. The Bulletproof Diet is like a caricature of a bad
fad-diet book. If you took everything that’s wrong with eating in
America, put it in a Vitamix, and shaped the result into a book, you'd
get the Bulletproof Diet.




The book is filled with dubious claims based on little evidence
or cherry picked studies that are taken out of context. The author,
Dave Asprey, vilifies healthy foods and suggests part of the way to
achieve a "pound a day" weight loss is to buy his expensive,
"science-based" Bulletproof products.


But there's a silver lining: the Bulletproof Diet brings together in
one place everything that should make you skeptical of fad diets. It's a
teachable moment and its various offenses serve as a collection of
giant, red warning flags.

"I have unlocked the single secret to weight loss!"

If that coffee isn't Bulletproof, you're in trouble. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images News)

Almost every fad diet-book starts with a compelling personal
narrative. In this case, Asprey was a Silicon Valley investor who had
all the personal success he could have dreamed of but not enough energy
to enjoy it because, by his mid-20s, he weighed about 300 pounds.

So
he channeled his nerdiness to "hack" weight loss, investing $300,000 of
his money on research, travel, and experimentation. With this book,
he’s bringing the secret of easy and quick weight loss to the masses.

Even
without reading the book, you can be assured that however well-meaning
the plan may be, it's bunk. I'm sure the diet worked great for Asprey,
who looks very handsome on his book jacket. But every credible
researcher I have ever spoken to on diet — notably those who aren’t
selling books and products — has said that the one thing they have
learned is: there is no one best diet that works for everyone.
Bulletproof is basically a very low-carb, Paleolithic diet that emphasizes fat.




A bunch of studies, and studies of those studies (or meta research),
have shown that all diets — low fat, low carb, Weight Watchers, Atkins,
etc. — have about the same modest results in the long run, no matter
their macronutrient composition.


As I have written previously,
these findings from the literature should be liberating: they mean that
we’ve been sold this idea that if we just buy into one particular diet —
and purchase all its associated books and energy bars and health shakes
— we will walk the golden path to thinness. But science
(and experience) have shown us that that's not true. The researchers all
recommended simply cutting calories in a way you like and can sustain.

"You have to overhaul the way you eat completely!"

The researchers also warned, the more extreme a diet is, the more
likely it is to fail. And make no mistake. The Bulletproof Diet is very
extreme. It's basically a very low-carb Paleolithic diet that emphasizes
saturated fat.

To become Bulletproof — "reclaiming energy
and focus" and "upgrading your life" — you need to cut your intake of
gluten and sugar, stop eating grains and legumes, and nearly eliminate
fruit because it's basically candy, according to Asprey.

As he
told me, "The Bulletproof Diet is a roadmap not a prescription," but the
roads he offers are so limited — and they begin with guzzling his brand
of butter coffee each morning and then fasting — that it's hard to
imagine how far one could reasonably stray and still get results.

No
one would quibble with the fact that we should all eat more vegetables
and less sugar. After a science-y explanation of the evidence for the
diet, Asprey rightly told me in an email, "There is no one
on earth who can win an argument saying that white flour or soy isolate
is better for you than steamed broccoli or a piece of salmon."

Most
people know that, but can't live on diets that rely on these foods
only, especially when they're based on expensive, branded versions of
these foods (more on that later).

"The foods you and everyone you know eat regularly are toxic!"

These almonds might kill you. (HealthAliciousNess.com/Flickr)

In the Bulletproof Diet, Asprey ranks foods from "toxic" to
"Bulletproof," claiming that his classification system is
science-driven.

By this categorization, raw kale, raw spinach,
pumpkin, hazelnuts, almonds, chickpeas, quinoa, and cantaloupe are
"suspect." Corn, soy, and raisins are toxic.

I asked Asprey about this ranking system, and he explained that it's based on the "inflammatory" properties of each food.

To
be clear, inflammation is real. You body mounts a localized
inflammatory response in reaction to injury, and researchers are now
trying to understand the role chronic inflammation plays in diseases
like cancer.

But the nutrition researchers I spoke to — and other actual science-based thinkers — have pointed out
that anti-inflammatory diets haven't been clinically validated. Now,
some of these diets are very similar to the Mediterranean way of
eating, which is linked with very good health outcomes. But to suggest
that we know with certainty that specific foods reduce inflammation in
people, and that has a specific health benefit, is far reaching at best
and outright misleading at worst.


He selectively reported on studies that backed up his arguments, and ignored the science that contradicted them.Still, Asprey went so far as to say: "There
is one best way to help people lose weight, and that is
eliminating inflammation." He said people who want to lose weight just
need to test out different foods, determine if they cause them to  "feel food cravings and brain fog" and then eliminate those foods from their lives.

To
find out about the evidence behind this system, I looked at a bunch of
the citations for the claims that he makes about food. What I found was a
patchwork of cherry-picked research and bad studies or articles that
aren't relevant to humans. He selectively reported on studies that
backed up his arguments, and ignored the science that contradicted them.



Many of the studies weren't done in humans but in rats and mice.
Early studies on animals, especially on something as complex as
nutrition, should never be extrapolated to humans. Asprey glorifies
coconut oil and demonizes olive oil, ignoring the wealth of randomized trials
(the highest quality of evidence) that have demonstrated olive oil is
beneficial for health. Some of the research he cites was done on very
specific sub-populations, such as diabetics, or on very small groups of people. These findings wouldn't be generalizable to the rest of us.

Another journalist, writing in the UK Telegraph, perused through some of Asprey's citations and was similarly unimpressed:

The one about cereal
grains, for example, begins with a quote from the Bible and is written
by a man called Loren Cordain, otherwise known as the author of The
Paleo Diet, a health plan that involves eating only foods that were
available to humans during the Paleolithic (or caveman) era, and has
been widely discredited.

Another paper — "Switching from refined
grains to whole grains causes zinc deficiency" — is a report of a 1976
research project featuring a study group of just two people. A third
study - "Diets high in grain fibre deplete vitamin D stores" - is a 30
year-old study of 13 people.

A fourth - "Phytic acid from whole
grains block zinc and other minerals" – is based on a 1971 study of
people in rural Iran eating unleavened flatbread. Another is about
insulin sensitivity in domestic pigs.

In other words, the research upon which the Bulletproof Diet stands is not exactly cutting-edge.

Dr. Lydia Bazzano, director of the Center for Lifespan Epidemiology
Research at Tulane University, wasn't surprised by the poor quality of
the research he was using. There actually isn't a lot of good science in
humans on the health impact of specific foods, she explained. This kind
of research is extremely difficult to do. You'd need to get people to
substitute particular foods in their diets, and study them before and
after to learn about the effects of the dietary changes.

"But
these studies are usually done on a short-term basis and have small
sample sizes," she said. So they don't tell us much about the long-term
effects of eating particular foods and, because they have small sample
sizes, they don't always apply to the general population.

So you
should be very skeptical when Asprey — or anyone else — claims to have
found the "truth" about the harms of kale and nuts that others missed,
especially when they are based on single studies. As Matt Fitzgerald,
author of the book Diet Cults,
summed up: "If a diet guru says that something you've eaten your whole
life is toxic, change the channel — unless you're already dead."

"Stop eating an entire food group!"Carbs really aren't the enemy.

While the Bulletproof coffee — a blended mixture of special
Bulletproof-brand brew, butter and coconut oil — may be a novel
gimmick, the idea that people should eat a low-carb diet is not new.


And it has failed time and again in the past because, again, most people can't live like this, said obesity physician Dr. Yoni Freedhoff. He points
out, for example, that we tried restrictive, low-carb eating during the
Atkins boom. "In the year 2000, it is estimated that one in five
American households had one member who tried Atkins," he said. "If these
diets were sustainable we would still see one in five families on it
and we’d see improvements in the national waistline. We haven't seen
that."


While it may be true that folks who go on low-carb diets lose a little more weight in the short run, it’s also true
that these dieters have a very hard time adhering to them. "Any diet
that takes things to the extreme can often help you lose weight in the
short-term, but it is not sustainable," said Dr. Bazzano.


Asprey is right that the experiment of replacing fat with carbohydrates during the low-fat craze utterly backfired. Researchers now believe
that we should get more fat into our diets than they did 20 years ago.
But now Asprey seems to want to replace everything with fat. He swings
the pendulum in the other direction, suggesting that up to 70 percent
of one's calories come from this single macronutrient group. According
to him, fat is the best kind of fuel, and our bodies need lots of it for
optimal functioning.

Critics said Asprey goes too far with
the fat claims. "Now we know if you’re getting almost all of your
energy from any one of these macronutrients you need to think about
whether any one of those diets are healthy and sustainable," said Dr.
Bazzano, adding that the recommended intake of fat based on the best-available research is about 25 to 35 percent a day.


Dr. Freedhoff agreed. "Ultimately the issue I have got with this
style of diet — the issue with all low-carb diets — is not that they
can’t work or help but for the majority of people who go on them, it’s
not sustainable."

"The best way to lose weight is by buying my special products!"

Remember the grapefruit diet? That seemed like a much more innocent time in dieting fads. (Photo by Ulrich Baumgarten)

In Asprey's food categorizations, many of the items that rank as most
healthy are his own branded products: Bulletproof Brain Octane,
Bulletproof Chocolate Powder, Bulletproof Ghee, Bulletproof Whey, et
cetera.

Alarm bells should go off any time someone claims that
you should buy their expensive products for your diet. Especially when
the products come with miracle promises, like Asprey's Unfair Advantage,
which he suggests will help your body grow new mitochondria (the energy
powerhouses of the cells).

Lisa Dierks, a dietician at the Mayo
Clinic, said, "No matter what the diet is, when all of a sudden there
are all these things you’re encouraged to buy to make the diet more
successful, to me that’s always a flag."

She offered an
alternative: "If a patient came into my office and said, 'I want to
follow the Bulletproof Diet,' the first thing I would ask is 'What
attracts you to the diet?'" Then she tries to figure out a more
reasonable and sustainable approach, since, she said, she has seen
highly-restrictive fads fail patient after patient.

She likes to
remind her patients that what we know about healthy living is rather
simple and very difficult for diet gurus to make money off of: eat
mostly plants, do some exercise, don't smoke, and don't drink too much.
These recommendations have survived study after study, and worked for
generations of people all over the world. They're pretty much
bulletproof.

Why putting butter in your coffee is a big, steaming cup of ‘bulletproof’ nonsense

Why putting butter in your coffee is a big, steaming cup of ‘bulletproof’ nonsense





The so-called “Bulletproof Diet,” a diet plan that includes megadoses
of butter and which discourages healthy eating, is facing accusations
that it is based on junk science and a set of spurious, cherry-picked
data.

David Ferguson
19 Dec 2014 at 16:11 ET    

According to Vox health writer Julia Belluz,
the fad-diet program is ultimately only useful as an exemplar of
gimmicky, bogus diets that don’t lead to long-term weight loss and which
should be avoided by anyone who is serious about improving their
health.


“(T)he Bulletproof Diet,” Belluz wrote, “brings together in one place
everything that should make you skeptical of fad diets. It’s a
teachable moment and its various offenses serve as a collection of
giant, red warning flags.”

Belluz said she approached The Bulletproof Diet book and its
author Dave Asprey with a healthy measure of skepticism, but when she
looked closely at the diet plan and its high-priced range of associated
foods and other diet products, “I was blown away,” she said, at how rife
with pseudo-science and quackery the plan’s claims are.


“The Bulletproof Diet is like a caricature of a bad fad-diet book,” she wrote.
“If you took everything that’s wrong with eating in America, put it in a
Vitamix, and shaped the result into a book, you’d get the Bulletproof
Diet.”


Like all fad diets, Asprey’s plan says that it unlocks the one simple
secret to universal weight loss that no other diet plan has uncovered.
Using Asprey’s diet plan and buying his products, The Bulletproof Diet‘s book jacket says, will make you lose “a pound a day.”


Belluz counters that every nutritionist and dietician she has ever
spoken to on the subject says that there is absolutely no universal
secret to weight loss. Every person is different and everyone’s body
reacts in different ways to changes in diet and activity levels.


Research has concluded
that virtually no diet plan, from Atkins to Weight Watchers to “paleo”
dieting offers more than modest long-range results. On the positive
side, that means dieters can expect to achieve some results with
virtually any plan they like, so long as they stick to it. The bad news
is that the vast majority of dieters only ever see small changes in
their weight in the long term.


That research also found that the more dramatic a person’s diet has
to change for a diet plan, the more likely they are to fail to adhere to
their new regimen. The Bulletproof plan, Belluz notes, is essentially
another high-protein diet that de-emphasizes carbs and emphasizes fats,
derides fruits as being loaded with sugar, and orders dieters to
eliminate all grains and legumes.


Bulletproof dieters, Asprey — who bills himself as a “biohacker” who
has unlocked the body’s fat-storing computer codes — says, should begin
their day with a cup of coffee loaded with butter.


“It’s a gateway drug for taking control of your own biology,” he told the New York Times.


The butter, which, Asprey says, must be made from the milk of
grass-fed cattle, acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory in the body,
enabling the system to somehow eliminate and burn fat more efficiently.


Belluz noted
that the science on anti-inflammatory diets is still inconclusive, but
the word on low-carb diets is that they are ultimately unsustainable.
People simply find the regimes too difficult to keep up and go off of
them, causing them to gain back the weight they lost, and often more.


She also noted that the Bulletproof plan is a classic fad diet in
that it asserts that normal foods that you and everyone currently eat
are “toxic.”


Corn, soy and raisins, Asprey says, are toxic. Raw kale, raw spinach,
hazelnuts, almonds, chickpeas and certain other foods are in some
middle ground between “toxic” and “bulletproof,” but like many fad
diets, Asprey’s advice is to eliminate an entire food group from your
diet: grains and legumes.

“To find out about the evidence behind this system” of
low-inflammation eating, Belluz said, “I looked at a bunch of the
citations for the claims that he makes about food. What I found was a
patchwork of cherry-picked research and bad studies or articles that
aren’t relevant to humans. He selectively reported on studies that
backed up his arguments, and ignored the science that contradicted
them.”


Yes, Belluz said, some of Asprey’s weight-loss techniques will be highly useful to you, if you’re a mouse or a lab rat, but not if you’re a human being.


And finally, Belluz said, like all true hucksters and snake-oil
salesmen, the real bottom line of Asprey’s pitch is that you should buy
his products.


“Alarm bells should go off any time someone claims that you should
buy their expensive products for your diet,” she said. “Especially when
the products come with miracle promises, like Asprey’s Unfair Advantage,
which he suggests will help your body grow new mitochondria (the energy
powerhouses of cells).”


Mayo Clinic dietician Lisa Dierks told Belluz
that while everyone’s body has a different path to weight loss, there
are certain things that are universally accepted: “(E)at mostly plants,
do some exercise, don’t smoke, and don’t drink too much.”


The problem with that plan, of course, is that while it may be highly
effective at helping people lose weight, it’s highly ineffective at
making the people who write diet books any richer.