Cardiovascular
Does coconut oil raise LDL like butter?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
In 96 healthy adults, 50 g/day butter for 4 weeks raised LDL-C by ~0.4 mmol/L versus coconut or olive oil; coconut oil did not differ from olive oil on LDL and raised HDL-C.
Study at a glance
- Design
- RCT — Community RCT in Cambridgeshire (BBC-recruited) assigning extra virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, or unsalted butter 50 g/day for 4 weeks
- N
- N=96 · 96 randomised; 94 attended baseline; 91 completed 4-week follow-up
- Population
- Healthy volunteers aged 50–75 years without cancer, CVD, diabetes, or lipid-lowering drugs
- Outcome
- Change in serum LDL-C (primary); other lipids, weight, BP, glucose, CRP
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Key findings
Butter increased LDL-C vs coconut (+0.42 mmol/L) and olive oil (+0.38 mmol/L); coconut vs olive LDL change was −0.04 mmol/L (P=0.74). Coconut raised HDL-C vs butter (+0.18) and olive oil (+0.16). Weight, BMI, adiposity, glucose, and BP did not differ.
Methodology
BBC-recruited Cambridgeshire volunteers aged 50–75 were randomised to extra virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, or unsalted butter (50 g daily for 4 weeks) with LDL-C as the primary endpoint.
Limitations
Four weeks in healthy volunteers cannot prove coconut oil is heart-safe or that it should replace guideline advice to limit saturated fat; events were not measured.
How this study connects
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