Coconut Oil Benefits for Bodybuilders – The Fat Burning Fat!

By Ed Clements

There’s a lot of information circulating on the internet on how coconut oil

Whilst some of coconut oil's health benefits have been overhyped, coconut
oil can make a useful addition to a bodybuilder or athlete’s diet.

In this article, I focus on whether coconut oil benefits bodybuilders when on a cutting cycle.
Whilst some of the weight loss claims surrounding coconut oil such as that it is a low calorie fat
are untrue, there are many ways in which coconut oil benefits dieters:

 Coconut oil raises your metabolism, helping you to burn calories and lose fat.
 Coconut oil improves your ability to burn other dietary fats.
 Coconut oil encourages ketosis, an important fat burning state.
 Coconut oil effectively stabilises blood sugar levels between meals.

Coconut oil is a thermogenic fat that raises your metabolism!

Bodybuilding nutritionists rave about the thermogenic effect of eating – this term refers to the
energy expended by the body when chewing, swallowing, digesting, storing food etc. This is
actually the basis for the disproven belief that eating every 2 to 3 hours increases your
metabolism.

Out of all of the macronutrients protein uses up the most energy to digest and assimilate,
carbohydrates the next most and then fat. This is one reason why relatively high protein diets
are helpful for fat loss as well as for gaining muscle: eating protein increases your metabolism
and therefore you burn more calories.

Another reason why you should eat a relatively high protein diet is that protein is the most
satiating nutrient, so eating a diet containing adequate protein will make you want to eat less…

The standard line is that 30 percent of the calories in protein are burned to fuel its digestion,
assimilation etc. leaving only 70 percent to satisfy energy needs. I’ve never quite trusted
numbers like these – a venison steak, for example, must be more difficult to digest than a
similar amount of whey protein, just like fibre rich vegetables are clearly more thermogenic
carbohydrates than say a potato… But I’m getting a bit neurotic here, it is generally true that
protein is more thermogenic than carbohydrates and fats.

Coconut oil is the exception to the rule – it’s more thermogenic than protein!

Unlike most edible oils which are made up of long chain fatty acids (LCFAs), coconut oil contains
primarily of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs). These shorter chain fatty acids are absorbed
quickly and are sent directly to the liver where they are almost entirely burned for fuel. This
beta oxidation of MCFAs stimulates metabolism to an even greater extent than eating protein
does.

Just like you should theoretically lose weight by substituting protein for the less thermogenic
fat or carb macronutrients, if you start getting a higher percentage of your calories from
coconut oil you will run a higher metabolism and should lose weight.

A number of pacific island populations traditionally eat diets containing upwards of 50 percent
of calories coming from coconut fat – these people remain lean and muscular into old age and
avoid diseases of metabolism such as diabetes and hypothyroidism.

Studies show that MCFAs are more than twice as thermogenic as long chain fats and one study
indicated that, when MCFAs were given over a six day period, diet induced thermogenesis
increased by 50 percent(1). Numerous studies also show that overfeeding with MCFAs results in
minimal fat gain compared to the fat you put on when you overeat on long chain fats(2).

The thermogenic effect of MCFAs lasts for at least 24 hours so, if you eat a couple of
tablespoons of coconut oil in your cooking every day, you will be constantly keeping your
metabolism working at a higher level. Because coconut oil elevates your metabolic rate it
makes many people feel more energetic as well as helping them to remain leaner.

Coconut oil may actually help your body to burn other types of fat!

Bruce Fife argues that ‘not only are medium-chain fatty acids burned for energy production, but
they also encourage the burning of long-chain fatty acids'. This statement is backed up by a fair
number of studies. One study found that the combination of MCFAs with n-3 fatty acids was
particularly effective in encouraging the burning of long chain fats:

‘Combined dietary 72% MCFA and 22% n-3 LCPUFA without LCFA stimulate the fatty acid
oxidation and release from adipocytes without affecting any safety parameters measured.'(3)

The worrying effects of fish oil supplementation such as increased lipid peroxidation may be
reduced or even eliminated when consumed as part as a diet rich in coconut oil as coconut oil
stabilises EFAs within the body. Coconut oil benefits dieters because you don’t have to
consume nearly as many EFAs if your diet in rich in coconut oil – coconut oil has been shown to
increase EFA effetiveness by as much as 100 percent(4).

(For an objective look at how well fish oil performs as a fat loss aid see my article krill oil
benefits)

Coconut oil benefits dieters by encouraging ketosis

Studies have shown that coconut oil is highly ketogenic(5), meaning it encourages the burning
of ketones rather than glucose for energy. Ketosis is a state you can enter when you either
restrict carbs or on certain types of high fat diet. Many people on ketogenic diets report less
intense hunger feelings with greater satiety after meals.

Nutritionists in favour of ketogenic diets argue that they are effective for weight loss because
they suppress your appetite and for many people this means they can eat at a calorie deficit
without much effort.

There are many reported health benefits above and beyond simple weight loss that are gained
by remaining in a state of ketosis for periods of each day – one example is burning ketones
instead of glucose for energy is being linked to lower brain aging in humans(6). However, many
people do well on higher carb diets so I doubt that this can be universal.

Coconut is so easily oxidised by the liver that, even in the presence of carbs, it will put you into
ketosis. This is good news for athletes and bodybuilders because it means that you can enjoy all
of the benefits of ketosis without suffering reduced performance due to low levels of stored
glucose in the muscles and liver. Aside from this, studies have shown that coconut oil provides
an additional energy source alongside glycogen to fuel aerobic activities.

But is coconut oil really low calorie?

If you’ve researched coconut oil benefits online you will probably have read that, in addition to
being more thermogenic, it contains fewer calories than other fats. This combination would
make it an ideal fat for fat loss… but, unfortunately, this is untrue.

Fats generally contain 9 calories/ gram, while carbohydrates and proteins contain 4; however,
you will often see coconut oil being advertised as containing 6.8 calories per gram. The
confusion over this is due to MCT oil, which is derived from coconut oil, being found to contain
only 6.8 calories per gram. For those interested, MCT oil contains 75 percent caprylic acid and
25 percent capric acid, two medium chain fats that are found in coconut oil.

Coconut oil contains more than just these two fats though – the medium chain fat lauric acid is
more energy dense than these, as are the long chain fats in coconut oil. The actual energy of
coconut oil lies between 8.75-8.8 kcal/g, just under that of standard fats like olive oil and
butter.
This may be disappointing news for a few of you but don’t get too disheartened, eating coconut
products and cooking in the oil may be an excellent way to gain your needed calories each day.
Lots of people find that limiting carbs helps them to lose weight – in this situation the lost
calories must be made up from protein and fats, and one of coconut oil benefits is it is less likely
to turn into body fat than other fats.

Coconut oil benefits dieters with unstable blood sugar levels!

Maintaining a stable blood sugar level makes dieting a heck of a lot easier. If your blood sugar
levels are constantly swinging from high to low because you’re eating a high refined
carbohydrate, low fat diet, you’re going to suffer from hunger pangs every couple of hours.
These pangs are going to really test your will power and will make it difficult to maintain a
calorie deficit.

A stable blood sugar level tends to lead to better emotional stability. Having large peaks and
troughs in blood sugar means it becomes more difficult to make sensible food choices and
might lead to you binging on junk food. Anything you can do to even out your blood sugar levels
will help with weight loss and will improve your overall health.

For may people who suffer from widely fluctuating blood sugar levels, coconut oil benefits them
massively! Coconut oil works to stabilise blood sugar levels through a number of different
mechanisms:

1) Like all fats, coconut oil benefits dieters by slowing down the process of stomach emptying.
Carbs eaten in meals that include fat take longer to digest and leave the stomach so there is a
less dramatic rise in blood sugar levels following meals.

Coconut oil benefits people when taken with meals because it lessens the hyperactive feelings
commonly experienced after eating high carb meals. It will also stop your blood sugar from
crashing an hour or so later.

2) It has been shown that coconut oil benefits hypothyroid patients because it elevates
metabolism. Low thyroid function and hypoglycaemia are two problems that often go hand in
hand. Below is prominent thyroid physician Dr. Broda Barnes’ explanation as to how low
thyroid function causes low blood sugar:

‘A sluggish liver results from subnormal thyroid activity. During periods of stress, the liver can’t
produce enough sugar from protein. Then hypoglycaemia occurs. Thyroid therapy stimulates
the liver to normal function, and hypoglycaemia usually disappears.’(7)

Dr. Barnes and Dr. Langer, another thyroid expert, report much success in helping patients with
hypoglycaemia by supplementing with dessicated thyroid.
If Dr. Barnes is correct in his above suggestion that low liver function is a major cause of
hypoglycaemia, then coconut oil may help in more ways than one. Besides improving thyroid
function, coconut oil benefits the liver by protecting it from the damaging effects of alcohol, it
does this by inhibiting free radical formation(8) in the liver.

3) As discussed previously, coconut oil benefits dieter by encouraging the burning of ketones
and free fatty acids for fuel rather than glucose. Glucose as a fuel burns quickly and leaves
many people feeling hungry a couple of hours after they have eaten a meal; ketones and fatty
acids burn more slowly and allow many to go for longer between meals without getting hungry.

When ketones and free fatty acids are burned to fuel most bodily processes, glucose is stored in
the liver and muscles as glycogen. This glycogen is released slowly and provides stable energy
to fuel brain function and muscular activity between meals.

Again, some people do better on ketogenic diets than others so you’ll have to find what works
best for you. Bear in mind that one of coconut oil benefits is that it can put you into ketosis
without you having to drastically reduce your daily carb level.

MCFAs in early life fight obesity!

Rodent studies suggest that being fed with MCFAs early in life diminishes the chances of
becoming obese in adulthood by reducing size and number of adipocytes (fat storage cells):

‘Results showed that the LCT-fed rats were significantly heavier, with larger epididymal,
retroperitoneal, omental and subcutaneous fat pads than the respective pair-fed MCT rats.

Also, LCT-fed rats had larger size and number of adipocytes than MCT-fed littermates. It is
concluded that the type of fat in the diet, namely LCT or MCT, when fed early in life can
influence the development of adipose tissue.'(9)

These results make pretty interesting reading – maybe this is one reason why infants that are
breast fed (breast milk is rich in MCFAs) seem to generally turn out healthier than formula fed
children.

Similarly, a possible explanation for why pacific island tribesmen who eat their traditional diets
remain lean throughout their lives, whilst we often put on weight in adulthood, is that they
bring their children up on a coconut rich diet from birth.

Final note:

All this being said, no one food can guarantee weight loss – if you eat a sugar and bad fat laden
diet that contains more calories than you need each day then you’re going to find weight loss
extremely difficult (impossible actually)…
If you want to see whether coconut oil benefits you, you have two basic options as far as I can
see:

Option 1 would be to add 3 to 4 tablespoons of coconut oil to your diet each day and not to
consciously change other variables. Many people find they cut calories without trying on this
approach because their blood sugar levels balance out and because coconut oil with meals is
very satiating. As well as this their metabolisms speed up so fat loss becomes easier.

Option 2 would be to simply use coconut oil in place of your usual cooking oil. Here many
people will lose weight mainly from eliminating fattening refined vegetable oils from their diets,
not from coconut oil per se. Even a little coconut oil added to your diet can convey many health
benefits so, if this approach suits you, don’t worry that you’re not eating enough. Aside from
anything else your food will taste better!