3 Things to Know about Coconut Oil to Save Your Health

Is coconut oil good for your health, or does it wear an undeserved health halo? These 3 things will help you decide what to do with the coconut oil in your pantry.


Every morning after waking up in her college dorm, my new client added what looks and feels like expired cold cream to her fruit smoothie. The kind that’s dried out and curdled because you didn’t screw the lid on after smearing it on your face. Last winter.

I blend Greek yogurt or cottage cheese into my fruit smoothies because every self-respecting dietitian knows a meal isn’t a meal without a good source of protein. But gloppy white stuff that adds no protein, packs 260 calories in a mere 1/8 cup, and serves me better when soothing my skin than dressing my food? No thanks.

“My mom told me it burns fat,” was her answer when I asked how she came to spike her fruit with coconut oil. And no, she didn’t think that it made her smoothie tastier.

Is coconut oil good for you

Is coconut oil good for you?
© Can Stock Photo / ckellyphoto

Is Coconut Oil Good for Your Health?

  • 260 calories
  • no protein
  • 26 grams of saturated fat

in only 2 tablespoons of coconut oil

In an American Heart Association (AHA) advisory about fats and heart disease, experts strongly discourage the use of coconut oil, and this has caused quite a hullabaloo across the internet. Many people are asking why they thought coconut oil was good in the first place (I’ll address that below). Others claim that the AHA is incompetent in their denouncement of all things coconut.

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3 things to help you decide if coconut oil is good

1. There are tastier (and healthier ways) to spend those calories & saturated fats. A single tablespoon rings up at 130 calories and 13 grams of saturated fat. For the sake of their hearts, health experts recommend capping our intake somewhere in the range of 13 – 20 grams per day. That leaves little room for other foods with any fat at all since all fats are a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.

What else could I eat for about 130 calories?

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons of delicious, nutritious peanut butter
  • 3 just-for-fun Dove Chocolate Promises
  • 3 cups of grated carrots

These numbers tell me that coconut oil isn’t good for weight loss or for the heart.

2. Coconut oil has no superpowers. Thoughts of “all-natural” conjure up visions of livestock happily grazing on a grassy hillside, steady rain falling on vegetable fields, and sweaty farmworkers hauling freshly dug root vegetables or newly picked fruits.

Does all-natural guarantee good health? Tobacco is natural. So are poisonous mushrooms. And lightening. So no, natural isn’t always better. If you add coconut oil to smoothies – or to anything – because you think it’s natural and good for you, I hope I’ll help you make better use of your calories.

Some coconut oil is okay, but without some pretty strict limits, we’re not doing our health any good.

Why do people think coconut oil is good for weight loss?

Many people compare coconut oil to medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) or MCT oil, which is absorbed and metabolized differently in the body than other saturated fatty acids and may have health benefits. But this is a misguided comparison because coconut oil doesn’t resemble MCT oil very well. There are more MCTs in coconut oil than other oils, but not enough for coconut oil to have similar effects as MCT oil.

For you geeky types: The medium chain fats have 8 (caprylic acid) or 10 (capric acid) carbon atoms in their chains. Only about 13% of coconut oil’s saturated fatty acids are true medium chains. A major saturated fatty acid in coconut oil is lauric acid, which has 12 carbon atoms in its chain. Lauric acid does not behave like caprylic and capric acids. Only a small proportion of lauric acid is absorbed through the portal circulation in the way that caprylic and capric acids are absorbed. The majority of lauric acid is absorbed via chylomicrons just like long chain fatty acids.

If coconut oil is out, what should I use instead #coconutoilClick To Tweet

3. There are better choices. All foods with fats will have some saturated fats. But there are so many delicious, convenient choices with much less saturated fat than coconut oil. Check out this chart from Canolainfo that compares the types of fats in different oils. I prefer canola oil and extra virgin olive oil for most things. Now and then, I use peanut, sesame, walnut, and almond oils too.

Use healthy oils in baking

Yes, you can substitute heart-healthy fats for the solid and semi-solid fats typically used in baking!

  • Swap out 4 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil with 3 tablespoons of liquid oil (like soybean, canola or olive oil)
  • Use mashed avocado. Four tablespoons of mashed avocado replace 4 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil.

It’s probably clear how I respond when I’m asked: is coconut oil good. Coconut oil is no health food. It wears an undeserved health halo because it appears natural and is often compared to MCT oil. I aim to dim the brightness of that halo.

What to do if you LOVE coconut oil?

If eating and cooking with coconut oil make you smile, use it sparingly. Save it for those foods where the coconut oil flavor really matters. Even just a tablespoon is dense with calories and saturated fat. If you don’t love it, find a better alternative.

If you have coconut oil in your pantry, spread it on your chapped, dry skin instead of adding it to your smoothie. It won’t burn fat either way, but you might enjoy silkier skin.

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Jill Weisenberger

I'm Jill, and I believe simple changes in your mindset and health habits can bring life-changing rewards. And I don't believe in willpower. It's waaaay overrated. As a food-loving registered dietitian nutritionist, certified diabetes care and education specialist and certified health and wellness coach, I've helped thousands of people solve their food and nutrition problems. If you're looking for a better way to master this whole healthy eating/healthy living thing or if you're trying to prevent or manage diabetes or heart problems, you'll find plenty of resources right here.

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13 Comments

  1. Maggie on June 30, 2017 at 8:31 am

    I always wondered about MCT oil. Thanks for explaining that coconut oil doesn’t have much of it. Nice post.

  2. John on October 10, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    Dr. Oz program, yesterday, confirms everything you’ve written here. I did the food elimination/low carb diet for a year. I used coconut oil as recommended. It was a total flop and failure. At some point, the weight loss I wanted totally stalled out. Then I started gaining everything back in less than half the time when I stopped that intermittent fasting/low carb food elimination diet. I will never ever do that to myself again.

    As for the coconut oil, it was always in the back of my mind, if this stuff becomes rock solid in cooler temps what is that doing inside of my body and arteries. The food elimination” non-diet diet” groupies will tell you that you couldn’t possible get enough fat in the form of coconut oil that would do you any damage. I no longer believe that and I’ve left that paleo low carb – this is a “non-diet diet” lifestyle change behind. It didn’t work and it was impossible to sustain longterm. No more coconut oil for me.

    • Jill Weisenberger on October 10, 2017 at 12:49 pm

      I’m sorry that you had such a bad experience John, but thanks for sharing it. As you know, there are much better, more healthful fat choices.

    • John B on November 3, 2020 at 1:08 pm

      Hi John,

      Speaking as not a dietician but a successful weight loser. 44 lbs down headed for 60.

      I apologize ahead of time for the speechifying.

      It’s not complicated but it’s not instant gratification and it doesn’t come in a box or a fad diet. The tortoise wins the race. Eat to live, not vice versa.

      I say it’s not a diet in terms of a temporary change in food consumption, it’s a new normal, a permanent change in food, a normal normal as opposed to a Western food industry normal which is not an evolutionary normal.

      From my experience eliminating fast carbs has yielded great and I believe permanent results. A combination of factors: the COVID-19 shutdown beginning in mid-March of 2020, my long-held desire to get my BMI into the normal range while watching it creep up over the years, and wanting to avoid the chronic maladies caused by overweight, were my impetus to take action. I’m at week 32, weight is down 44 lbs and BMI is down from 32 to 26; goal is BMI 24 or maybe even 22-1/2. No way I would go back.

      Bars and restaurants closed so no more beer and no more food that’s not designed for one’s health. I gave up such things as pizza, pasta, ice cream, alcohol, almond butter, saltines, jars of nuts, butter, margarine, ketchup, french fries, frosties, chicken nuggets, American salad dressings, any sauce or dip with added sugar, soft cheese…

      Sugar is the fastest of fast carbohydrates and it recalibrates your sweet tooth so you don’t lust after what Nature wants you to lust after… fruit. Giving up sugar makes skim milk and various fruits seem sweeter than before and those become your energy boost instead of grabbing for added sugar.

      It seems I have low self-control for some things so the answer for beer and fast carbohydrates is none. Beer, ice cream, nuts, coleslaw, sauces, anything with added sugar… none. And no grapes… too sweet. It’s like an addiction… one can’t have a little bit only occasionally or long for the day you go back to it… just get rid of it and the desire goes away in a few weeks. Fall off the wagon and you’re back at it.

      That being said I am able to cheat with the occasional piece of dry 100% whole wheat toast, corn tortilla chips (un-flavored store brand, all the flavored ones have much more salt), and salad croutons in the form of cubed stuffing. And somehow I’m able to have sliced roasted un-salted almonds in the house for my vegetable salad; jars of nuts I can’t keep because I will gorge on them.

      I ate pasta for decades and loved it. I couldn’t imagine no pasta but if you compare the nutrition and fiber to beans it doesn’t pull its weight in terms of nutrition per calorie. Now I get dry beans from the international isle in the grocery store and pasta seems pasty and un-satisfying. I don’t want pasta any more… I did not believe that possible. Note: dry beans, no added salt, no added sugar.

      I go once a week to a Thai restaurant for sweet sour chicken… comes with white rice… I bring my own rice purchased based on fiber content and cooked and frozen ahead of time and swap it out for the white rice… it doesn’t have the same sugar kick which I see as a good thing.

      My diet at home consists mostly of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, skim milk, oatmeal with frozen berry mix, boiled eggs, bean chile with a modest amount of ground beef, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (expensive stuff from the warehouse store, the common brand at the grocery store has 2-1/2 times the salt), home-made split pea soup with chicken. I cut down on salt; my salt comes mostly from the cheese in the vegetable salad and as a topping on the chile and split pea soup.

      I got a lot out of watching Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food.

      And Jack LaLanne is may man… “no cakes, no pies, no jams, no jellies… ever”

  3. Denise on February 1, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    Thanks for the information. It is so counter to what I learned about fats growing up.

    • Jill Weisenberger on February 1, 2018 at 6:58 pm

      Thanks for visiting. I’m glad we’re moving away from fat phobia and learning that the type of fat is more important than the quantity of fat. It gives us so many more ways to enjoy our meals!

  4. Maria Faires, RD on December 27, 2018 at 11:10 am

    Thanks Jill for writing such an informative article. I can always count on you to provide evidence-based advice.

    As a dietitian this is the advice I give my clients as well. It surprises me to see some dietitians advocating for the use of coconut oil despite the science and the American Heart Association statement strongly discouraging the use of coconut oil.

    • Jill Weisenberger on December 27, 2018 at 11:46 am

      Thank you for your kind comment!

  5. Sandra on November 3, 2020 at 1:15 pm

    Thanks for providing science-based information!!!

    • Jill Weisenberger on November 3, 2020 at 4:30 pm

      Thanks for reading and for the kind words!
      Cheers to good health!

  6. Jude Collie on November 4, 2020 at 11:15 pm

    Coconut oil good for skin and keeping insects away. Just apply sparsely to skin, you forget the “stickiness” within two minutes after application. My two dogs love it, they come to my door every day for a teaspoon of the stiff. Just love it!

  7. Sandra Gayle on May 14, 2022 at 4:44 am

    Thank you I have been trying to lose weight because my Dr’s informed me that I am pre diabetic. I have been trying turmeric drinks with coconut oil thinking it’s good for me. Thank you for enlightening me. I will be rubbing it on my feet from now on. So pleased I came across your cite Thank you

    • Jill Weisenberger on May 14, 2022 at 10:23 am

      Welcome! There are so many things you can do to manage or reverse prediabetes. But not coconut oil. You might find this article helpful. And I have many more on my cite.

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Hi there! I'm Jill, a nutrition & diabetes expert and the author of 4 books.

Jill Weisenberger

I believe simple changes in health habits can bring you life-changing rewards.

And I believe willpower is way overrated.

Right here is where you can discover the mindset and habits to stick with healthy lifestyle choices most of the time - and drop the guilt when you don't.

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