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FACTS About Coconut Oil
Coconut oil increases life expectancy'
G. K. Nair
KOCHI, May 20
LIFE expectancy of the people who consume more coconut oil and kernel is said to be longer than that of others.
Observations recorded in many countries where coconut kernel and coconut oil form major dietary components have shown a longer life expectancy-at-birth of people than in countries with negligible intake of coconut products, says Mr P. K. Thampan, President, Peekay Tree Crops Development Foundation.
People in Kerala are known for their high consumption of coconut kernel and oil. According to household consumption surveys, the per capita average intake of coconut products in terms of oil equivalent was 10.023 kg in 1985.
In other parts of the country, the dietary use of coconut product is negligible.
Despite this difference, the life expectancy of Keralites has improved substantially over the years. In 1991 the life span of Indian as a whole was 56 years for males and 56.6 years for females whereas it was 67 years for males and 73 years for females in Kerala, he said.
In Sri Lanka, where coconut is the chief source of fat in the diet of the local people the average per capita consumption of kernel and oil in terms of nut equivalent was 120 annually.
This is equivalent to 18 kg of coconut oil as per the conversion rate of coconut in that country.
According to the 1985 US Demographic yearbook the life expectancy-at-birth in Sri Lanka was 67.8 years for males and 71.6 years for females. This was much longer than in many other Asian countries where coconut consumption was comparatively low.
The exceptions were Japan and Hong Kong where the average life expectancy was 77.85 and 76.5 respectively against the average of 69.7 for Sri Lanka, he pointed out.
"These are clear indications of comparatively long life expectancy of people in the coconut consuming countries," Mr Thampan, Chief Coconut Development Officer, Coconut Development Board, said.
Similarly, population studies conducted in countries, where coconut oil is part of the normal diet of the people, had revealed that coconut oil consumption is unrelated to coronary heart disease mortality or morbidity, he pointed out.
Quoting a study, he said, incidence of heart attacks in Sri Lanka is increasing whereas the consumption of coconut is decreasing. The per capita consumption of 132 nuts per year in 1952 has declined to 90 nuts in 1991.
"During this period the spread of ischaemic heart disease has only increased showing that it was not caused by consumption of coconut."
In Kerala, an average 2.3 out of 1,000 people suffered from coronary heart disease in 1979. This rate has also shot up to seven per 1,000 people by 1993.
Sustained campaign in the 1980s against the use of coconut oil as a dietary fat on health grounds, there has been erosion in the use of coconut oil for household culinary preparations here.
Since early eighties, imported palm oil and refined forms of various vegetable oils started displacing coconut oil from household uses.
"Despite the reduced consumption of coconut oil for edible uses, the occurrence of heart ailments among the local people showed a three fold increase during the same period." This shows that coconut oil consumption could not be related to the increase noted in the incidence of coronary heart disease in the state.
In a study of the cardiovascular morbidity in Kerala, one of the popular cardiologists of the state held the view that "it is meaningless to say that the use of coconut oil and coconut is causing heart attacks in Kerala." In support of this, he has pointed out that the people in Lakshadweep Islands suffer very low incidence of hearth attack compared to the rest of the world though they consume large amount of coconut and coconut oil.
Ack.: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2003/05/21/stories/2003052100291100.htm
Please read this article too:
http://www.preventionisbest.com/saturatedfat.html
http://www.inq7.net/lif/2003/mar/04/lif_1-1.htm
For Cooking Oil and Heart Attack:
http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/news/aug/04/04082003he.htm
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