Dr.
Bruce Fife is the world's leading expert on coconut and health. He
is the director of the
Coconut Research Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
educating the public and the scientific community on the nutritional and
health benefits of coconut. He is the author of numerous books,
including "The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil", the director of the
Southern Colorado chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and lives in
Colorado Springs.
Preventing and Treating Common Health Problems with Coconut -
Discover the amazing health benefits of coconut oil, meat, milk, and
water. In his book you will learn why coconut oil is considered the
healthiest oil on earth and how it can protect you against heart disease,
diabetes, and infectious illnesses such as influenza, herpes, Candida, and
even HIV.
There is more to the healing power of coconut than just the oil. You will
also learn about the amazing health benefits of coconut meat, milk, and
water. You will learn why coconut water is used as an IV solution and how
coconut meat can protect you from colon cancer, regulate blood sugar, and
expel intestinal parasites. Contains dozens of fascinating case studies
and remarkable success stories. You will read about one woman’s incredible
battle with breast and brain cancer and how she cured herself with
coconut. This book includes an extensive A to Z reference with complete
details on how to use coconut to prevent and treat dozens of common health
problems.
More
of information in his books listed below. There are some remarkable
personal stories as well COCONUT CURES with even remedies for everyday
bumps and bruises!
Amidst a growing professional recognition of the health benefits of
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil,
He has developed a drugless thyroid program based on diet and lifestyle
with coconut oil as a primary feature of this program, although it is
definitely not the only factor involved. “I do recommend that those people
who are on thyroid medication when they start the program, to continue
with it under the close supervision of their doctors. Some people have
reported that using thyroid medication while on my program makes their
thyroid function too good and they become hyperthyroid. So a doctor must
monitor the medication and gradually reduce it. This is what I’m seeing.
People report that they have more energy, they lose weight, and they are
able to reduce and even completely get off thyroid medication. They no
longer need it.
One lady, for example, had been hypothyroid for over 20 years. She had
been using Armour thyroid with partial improvement. Her body temperature
averaged 1 to 2 degrees below normal. After going through my program, her
daily average body temperature shot up to 98.6 degrees. She has much more
energy now, doesn’t need 10 hours of sleep every night or need a nap in
the afternoon, and she now tolerates cold better than her husband who has
normal thyroid function. She no longer needs medication; her thyroid is
functioning normally for the first time in decades. She doesn’t need to
depend on coconut oil either. She’s gone without coconut oil for as long
as a month, with no noticeable drop in thyroid function. Her improved
condition appears to be permanent”.
Bruce said “I have a drawer full of testimonials of people telling me how
they lost 10, 20, 60 pounds of excess fat with coconut oil and how my
program is helping their metabolism and overall health. Just recently I
received a letter from a lady who followed the recommendations in my book
and began using coconut oil. She lost 56 pounds. As you can imagine, she
was overjoyed!”
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Books
by Bruce Fife:
Coconut Cures
The Coconut Oil Miracle
Eat Fat Look Thin
Coconut Lover's Cookbook
The
unique composition of human breast milk fat includes the fatty acids,
lauric acid and capric acid, which have potent antimicrobial properties.
These fatty acids offer the nursing infant protection from viruses such as
herpes and HIV, protozoa such as giardia lamblia, and bacteria such as
chlamydia and heliocobater.
A
study published in 1998 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has
shown that lactating mothers who eat coconut oil and other coconut
products, have significantly increased levels of lauric acid and capric
acid in their breast milk. Thus, the milk supply has increased amounts of
the protective antimicrobials , which will give even greater protection to
the nursing infant.
Pregnant females store fat to assure successful lactation. Any lauric acid
and capric acid in the diet becomes part of the adipose stores. The milk
fat of a lactating mother is made up of these stores as well as her
current diet. If her diet doesn't contain lauric acid, then generally her
milk fat will contain around 3% lauric acid and round 1% capric acid.
When a
lactating woman adds foods rich in lauric acid, such as coconut oil and
other desiccated coconut products to her diet, the amount of lauric acid
available in her breast milk increases substantially to levels three times
the original level and nearly double the amount of capric acid. In
countries where coconut oil is a diet staple, levels of lauric acid in the
mother’s milk can be as high as 21% and capric acid can be as high as 6%
giving her infant even more protection against viruses, bacteria, and
protozoa.
Coconut oil can be used instead of butter in cooking and baking. You can
stir coconut oil into oatmeal or even use it as a spread. Also, coconut
oil's antimicrobial properties are beneficial for the skin. Pregnant women
in many cultures the world over rub coconut oil on their expanding bellies
to keep skin soft and prevent itching
Dr. Mary Enig MS (Nutritional Sciences), Ph.D. did original research that
showed a positive link between vegetable oil and cancer and a negative
correlation for animal fat. She originated comprehensive analysis of
transfatty acid components of over 200 foods. transfatty acids are formed
when vegetable oils are hydrogenated or heated to high temperatures. With
high temperatures, transfatty acids are fats that are twisted, which alter
their natural "cis" shape. She studied how the transfatty acids from foods
affected the liver's mixed function oxidase enzyme system that metabolizes
drugs and environmental pollutants in the body. An important finding of
this latter study was that laboratory animals fed experimental diets
containing transfatty acids have altered activity of this enzyme system.
These results were partly responsible for the review of the "Health
Aspects of Dietary transfatty Acids" held by the Federation of American
Societies for Experimental Biology, Life Sciences Research Office, at the
request of the Food and Drug Administration. Mary Enig has had 17 articles
published in scientific journals since 1976. In 1986, she was appointed by
the Governor of Maryland to the "State Advisory Council on Nutrition." She
was contributing editor to "Clinical Nutrition" magazine and consulting
editor for the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition." She has
given over 50 seminars and lectures on since 1979 on foods and nutrition
topics.
In an article published in the Indian Coconut Journal, Sept., 1995, Dr.
Enig stated that "Ancel Keys is largely responsible for starting the
anti-saturated fat agenda in the United States." She quoted Keys as saying
that "All fats raise serum cholesterol; saturated fats raise and
polyunsaturated fats lower serum cholesterol; Hydrogenated fats are the
problem; Animal fats are the problem." Enig stated: "As can be seen, his
findings were inconsistent."
Enig also stated: "The problems for coconut oil started four decades ago
when researchers fed animals hydrogenated coconut oil that was purposely
altered to make it completely devoid of any essential fatty acids... The
animals fed the hydrogenated coconut oil (as the only fat source)
naturally became essential fatty acid deficient; their serum cholesterol
increased. Diets that cause an essential fatty acid deficiency always
produce an increase in serum cholesterol levels as well as in increase in
the atherosclerotic indices. The same effect has also been seen when other
...highly hydrogenated oils such as cottonseed, soybean or corn oils have
been fed; so it is clearly a function of the hydrogenated products, either
because the oil is essential fatty acid (EFA) deficient or because of
transfatty acids."
What about studies where animals were fed unprocessed coconut oil? Enig
wrote: "Hostmark et al (1980) compared the effects of diets containing 10%
coconut oil and 10% sunflower oil on lipoprotein distribution in male
Wistar rats. Coconut oil feeding produced significantly lower levels
(p=0.05) of pre-beta lipoproteins (VLDL) and significantly higher
(p=<0.01) alpha-lipoproteins (HDL) relative to sunflower feeding."
(Editor's note: HDLs are considered the good cholesterol as they prevent
deposits of LDL cholesterol on artery walls.) She also cited a study by
Awad (1981) on Wistar rats fed a diet of either 14% (natural) coconut oil
or 14% safflower oil. She stated:"Total tissue cholesterol accumulation
for animals on the safflower diet was six times greater than for animals
fed the [unhydrogenated] coconut oil. A conclusion that can be drawn from
some of the
animal research is that feeding hydrogenated coconut oil devoid of
essential fatty acids (EFA) ...potentate the formation of atherosclerosis
markers. It is of note that animals fed regular coconut oil have less
cholesterol deposited in their livers and other parts of their bodies."
Enig also referred to epidemiological studies done by Kaunitz and Dayrit
(1992) on coconut eating societies who found that "available population
studies show that dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum
cholesterol nor to high coronary heart disease.." It is noteworthy that
hydrogenated coconut oil was not consumed by these coconut eating
societies; they only consumed natural coconut oil.
Kaunitz and Dayrit noted in 1989 that Mendis et al reported when Sri
Lankan males were changed from their normal diet of natural coconut oil to
corn oil, their LDL cholesterol declined 23.8% which is good news, but
their HDL cholesterol declined 41.4% which is bad news. This created a
more unfavorable LDL/HDL ratio meaning that on the corn oil diet there
would be more cholesterol depositing on the artery walls than on the
coconut oil diet. In plain English, a diet using liquid corn oil will lead
to cholesterol deposits faster than a diet using natural coconut oil.
Natural coconut oil, by increasing the good HDL cholesterol, may help
prevent atherosclerosis and heart disease. Enig cited several other
studies in her article that showed that natural coconut oil (not
hydrogenated coconut oil) had health benefits markers indicating that
coconut oil was more beneficial in preventing heart disease than most
vegetable oils. Enig also cited the research of Tholstrup et al (1994) on
natural (NOT hydrogenated) palm kernel oil which is high in lauric acid
and also contains myristic acid. Tholstrup found that with palm kernel
oil, "HDL cholesterol levels increased significantly from baseline
values."
Enig reported in her article that the effects of coconut oil on persons
with low cholesterol levels was the opposite of persons with high
cholesterol levels. Of persons with low total cholesterol counts, she
wrote that "there may be a rising of serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol
and especially HDL cholesterol." In persons with high cholesterol levels,
"there is lowering of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol." The studies
she cited showed that in both groups the LDL/HDL ratio moved in a
favorable direction. In persons with AIDS or immune-compromised from other
causes, the conclusions of this research are profound. It means everything
the public has been told about vegetable oils on television for the past
15 years has been half truths and leading the public to the wrong
conclusions. The public has been led to believe that tropicals will clog
your arteries and cause heart disease. In fact, the opposite is true;
natural tropical oils will help prevent hardening of the arteries while
most liquid vegetable oils will increase hardening of the arteries! In a
phone call to Mary Enig in April, 1997, she told me that the worst oil to
use for any purpose is Canola oil. When used in cooking, it produces the
very high levels of transfatty acids.
Mary Enig Ph.D. on Natural Coconut Oil for AIDS and Other Viral Infections
On July 19, 1995, Enig was quoted in an article published in The HINDU,
India's National Newspaper as stating that coconut oil is converted by the
body into "Monolaurin" a fatty acid with anti-viral properties that might
be useful in the treatment of AIDS. The staff reporter for The HINDU wrote
about Enig's presentation at a press conference in Kochi and wrote the
following:
"There was an instance in the US in which an infant tested HIV positive
had become HIV negative. That it was fed with an infant formula with a
high coconut oil content gains significance in this context and at present
an effort was on to find out how the 'viral load' of an HIV infected baby
came down when fed a diet that helped in the generation of Monolaurin in
the body."
The reporter commented on Enig's observations that "Monolaurin helped in
inactivating other viruses such as measles, herpes, vesicular stomatitis
and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and that research undertaken so far on coconut
oil also indicated that it offered a certain measure of protection against
cancer-inducing substances. "
In another article published in the Indian Coconut Journal, Sept., 1995,
Dr. Enig stated:
"Recognition of the antimicrobial activity of the monoglyceride of lauric
acid (Monolaurin) has been reported since 1966. The seminal work can be
credited to Jon Kabara. This early research was directed at the virucidal
effects because of possible problems related to food preservation. Some of
the early work by Hierholzer and Kabara (1982) that showed virucidal
effects of Monolaurin on enveloped RNA and DNA viruses was done in
conjunction with the Center for Disease Control of the US Public Health
Service with selected prototypes or recognized strains of enveloped
viruses. The envelope of these viruses is a lipid membrane."
Enig stated in her article that Monolaurin, of which the precursor is
lauric acid, disrupted the lipid membranes of envelope viruses and also
inactivated bacteria, yeast and fungi. She wrote: "Of the saturated fatty
acids, lauric acid has greater anti-viral activity than either caprylic
acid (C-10) or myristic acid (C-14). The action attributed to Monolaurin
is that of solubilizing the lipids ...in the envelope of the virus causing
the disintegration of the virus envelope." In India, coconut oil is fed to
calves to treat Cryptosporidium as reported by Lark Lands Ph.D. in her
upcoming book "Positively Well" (1).
While HHV-6A was not mentioned by Enig, HHV-6A is an enveloped virus and
would be expected to disintegrate in the presence of lauric acid and/or
Monolaurin. Some of the pathogens reported by Enig to be inactivated by
Monolaurin include HIV, measles, vercular stomatitis virus (VSV), herpes
simplex virus (HSV-1), visna, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Influenza virus,
Pneumonovirus, Syncytial virus and Rubeola. Some bacteria inactivated by
Monolaurin include listeria, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus
agalactiae, Groups A, B, F and G streptococci, Gram-positive organisms;
and gram-negative organisms, if treated with chelator.
Enig reported that only one infant formula "Impact"
contains lauric acid while the more widely promoted formulas like "Ensure"
do not contain lauric acid and often contain some hydrogenated fats (transfatty
acids). A modified ester of lauric acid, Monolaurin (available in
capsules), is sold in health food stores and is manufactured by Ecological
Formulas, Concord, CA.
Mary Enig on a Therapeutic
Dose
Based on her calculations on the amount of lauric acid found in human
Mother's milk, Dr. Enig suggests a rich lauric acid diet would contain
about 24 grams of lauric acid daily for the average adult. This amount
could be found in about 3.5 tablespoons of coconut oil or 10 ounces of
"Pure Coconut Milk." Coconut Milk is made in Sri Lanka and imported into
the United States. It can be found in health food stores and in local
grocery stores in the International Foods section or in specialty grocery
stores that sell products imported from Thailand, the Philippines or East
India. About 7 ounces of raw coconut daily would contain 24 grams of
lauric acid. 24 grams of lauric acid is the therapeutic daily dose for
adults suggested by Mary Enig based on her research of the lauric acid
content of mother's milk. (1)
1. Positively Well, by Lark Lands Ph.D. Her new book discusses lauric acid
and suggests many treatment options for persons with AIDS or CFIDS and may
be ordered by calling 905-672-7470 or 800-542-8102
Scientific Research on the Anti-Viral Effects of Lauric Acid:
Mary Enig cites 24 references in her 7 page article on "Lauric Acid for
HIV-infected Individuals," a few of which are as follows:
1. Issacs,
C.E. et al.
Inactivation of enveloped viruses in human bodily fluids by purified
lipids.
Annals of
the New York Academy of Sciences 1994;724:457-464.
2. Kabara,
J.J.
Antimicrobial agents derived from fatty acids.
Journal
of the American Oil Chemists Society 1984;61:397-403.
3.
Hierholzer, J.C. and Kabara J.J.
In vitro
effects on Monolaurin compounds on enveloped RNA and DNA viruses.
Journal
of Food Safety 1982;4:1-12.
4. Wang,
L.L. And Johnson, E.A.
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by fatty acids and monoglycerides.
Appli
Environ Microbiol 1992; 58:624-629.
5. Issacs,
CE et al.
Membrane-disruptive effect of human milk: inactivation of enveloped
viruses.
Journal
of Infectious Diseases 1986;154:966-971.
6.
Anti-viral effects of monolaruin.
JAQA
1987;2:4-6 7. Issacs CE et al.
Antiviral
and antibacterial lipids in human milk and infant formula feeds.
Archives
of Disease in Childhood 1990;65:861-864.
