My Letter in TODAY Newspaper, Coconut Milk: Healthy or Hazardous?(Includes Links to Research Studies)

Here is my published letter in TODAY newspaper(in Singapore) about the Health Promotion Board's incorrect view of coconut milk. Coconut milk is able to promote weight loss through thermogenesis, and is anti-fungal and anti-bacteria.

 http://www.todayonline.com/voices/coconut-milk-healthy-or-hazardous

(Even though coconut milk is also described to possess anti-viral properties, I think I didn't mention it because I had in mind of colloidal silver's potent anti-viral properties that I felt was much more significant. There is a local site where colloidal silver has been lab-certified to be able to neutralize various types of viruses very quickly. http://www.colloidalsilver.com.sg/Certifications.php )


These articles at the HPB's website mentioned coconut milk as fattening:

Getting the Fats Right!
http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/5634

Healthy Eating in Schools Programme
http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/2818

Eat to Lower Blood Pressure
http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/2862

Survive the Hawker Paradise
http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/2694

It is stated on the HPB's site that heart attack is the number two killer after cancer in Singapore. In Sri Lanka where coconut oil is consumed as the main dietary fat, the country has the lowest death rate from ischemic heart disease.

Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in aging and arteriosclerosis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3519928

"The Demographic Yearbook of the United Nations (1978) reported that Sri Lanka has the lowest death rate from ischemic heart disease. Sri Lanka is the only of the countries giving reliable data where coconut oil (containing over 50% medium chain fatty acids) is the main dietary fat."


Research that found coconut oil to be more easily absorbed compared to other oils composed of long-chain triglycerides—

Weight-loss diet that includes consumption of medium-chain triacylglycerol oil leads to a greater rate of weight and fat mass loss than does olive oil
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/3/621.full

Overfeeding with medium-chain triglyceride diet results in diminished deposition of fat.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/37/1/1.abstract

Medium-chain fatty acid nanoliposomes suppress body fat accumulation in mice.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21733323

Medium chain fatty acid metabolism and energy expenditure: obesity treatment implications.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9570335


Research has also found coconut oil to be able to induce thermogenesis for effective weight-loss—

Combined medium-chain triglyceride and chili feeding increases diet-induced thermogenesis in normal-weight humans.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23179202

Postprandial thermogenesis in lean and obese subjects after meals supplemented with medium-chain and long-chain triglycerides.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2021124

Research on the nutritional characteristics of medium-chain fatty acids.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17878693

"Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) have attracted attention as part of a healthy diet, because they are absorbed and transported directly into the liver via the portal vein, metabolized rapidly by beta-oxidation, and increase diet-induced thermogenesis."