It is often portrayed as a healthy alternative to other oils, but it seems that coconut oil may not be as good for you thought. Speaking at Harvard University, Dr Karin Michels, an expert in epidemiology at the university, called coconut oil ‘one of the worst foods you can eat’. She even went so far to describe the oil as ‘pure poison.’ During her talk, titled ‘Coconut Oil and other Nutritional Errors’, Dr Michels explained that eating superfoods was unnecessary, because we already get enough nutrition from everyday foods. She said: “We are well and sufficiently supplied.” This isn’t the first time that experts have warned about the dangers of coconut oil. Victoria Taylor, a dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said: “There has been speculation that some of the saturated fat present in coconut oil may be better for us than other saturated fats, but so far there is not enough good-quality research to provide us with a definitive answer.” Worryingly, coconut oil is about 86 per cent saturated fat. This is about one-third more than in butter. Ms Taylor added: “We know that diets high in saturated fat are associated with increased bad (LDL) cholesterol in the blood, and high cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke.”
