The first time we heard of Ketones, we were in Natural Expo West 2011. It was our annual tradeshow exhibition to California. A man whose name escapes me came in to our booth and was giving us good feedback on coconut oil. He mentioned that there have been findings that coconut oil has ketones. It was only recently during Dr. Bruce Fife’s visit in the Philippines that we encountered the word again.

The past few years, we have seen the slow increase in the popularity of coconut oil. Because of the information available in the internet, the benefits of coconut oil are being disseminated in a quicker pace; reaching more consumers than before. People are now realizing that there are different kinds of oils and each one has different characteristics and properties.

Many people including some medical professionals and wellness gurus claim that coconut oil is the healthiest oil in the world because of its unique properties — one of which is the kind of saturated fats that it contains. As you may already know coconut oil’s saturated fat is not the harmful kind, in fact, coconut oil has medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs. MCTs are changed by the body into MCFAs or Medium chain fatty acids or monoglycerides which build the immune system. This is the same MCFAs that protect a baby on its first few months from birth. MCFAs kill bacteria, viruses and fungi that may attack a newborn’s immune system. Coconut oil is the richest source of this kind of fatty acids.

Coconut oil has been found to kill bacteria that cause infections in the ulcer, bladder, and other parts of the body. This in turn causes illnesses and infections. Viruses are also aptly taken care of by coconut oil. In 1999, the first medical studies of coconut oil being used in the treatment of HIV or AIDS virus surfaced. Fungal skin diseases may also be treated with coconut oil. Because coconut oil is a natural solution, it does not have many side effects and does not encourage the development of new and stronger strains of bacteria, and viruses.

Another major point for coconut oil is the fact that MCTs are easily digested by the body. MCTs do not require the pancreas to break it down. MCTs in coconut oil contain many nutrients and these nutrients can be easily absorbed by the body without using the enzyme systems in our bodies. Instead the body is able to use the nutrients from MCTs right away.

Coconut oil may also help in losing weight. Because MCTs are easily broken down by the body into useful energy, it is not stored in the body as fats. It is also claimed to increase metabolism.