Coconut oil could check the aids virus

[Guest guest]

HI All,

Interesting report:

http://www.qpmpa.com/html/coconut_oil.html

Coconut oil could check the aids virus

Chennai, August 3

Coconut oil, often blamed by the medical community as a high cholesterol agent

causing coronary problems, may turn out

to be the saviour for millions of victims of the dreaded AIDS virus.

Jon J Kabara, professor emeritus, Michigan State University and Dr. Conrado S

Dayrit, emeritus professor of

pharmacology, University of the Philippines say that preliminary studies

conducted in the US and Philippines have shown

that the use of coconut oil or coconut could effectively check the proliferation

of HIV virus.

In separate presentations during the International Coconut Conference –2000 held

in Chennai recently, Kabara and Dayrit

said high presence of lauric acid in monoglyceride form known as monolaurin in

coconut and coconut oil provides them

with the anti-viral quality.

According to the two scholars monolaurin present in coconut and its oil could be

rated as one of the best natural

anti-viral agent. According to Kabara over 20 clinics in USA are now

investigating the use of monolaurin in checking

various viral diseases including HIV and hepatitis-C infections.

Kabara says that besides the HIV virus " literature reference of monolaurin are

now appearing at an increasing rate

showing application in dental cares, peptic ulcers, genital herpes, etc. "

Preliminary findings of the first clinical study to find out the anti-viral

properties of coconut and coconut oil have

yielded positive results. According to Kabara, clinical trials were conducted on

15 HIV infected patients in San Lazaro

Hospital in Manila.

The patients who never received any other anti-HIV medication were randomly

assigned to three treatment groups. Two

groups of patients were put on varying doses of monolaurin while the third group

was on coconut oil therapy lasting six

months.

The patients were subjected complete blood tests, tests for liver, kidney and

other vital organs at the beginning of the

study. The results of the trial showed that by the third month, seven of the

patients showed reduced viral load and by

the sixth month this had gone up to eight patients (five receiving varying doses

of monolaurin and three using coconut

oil). No serious side effects were reported on any of the patients.

Three patients developed AIDS on the third month of therapy. One of the three in

the coconut oil group died two weeks

after the study. The other two AIDS patients on monolaurin showed remarkable

recovery.

According to Dayrit, " this initial trial confirmed the anecdotal reports that

coconut oil does have an anti-viral effect

and can beneficially reduce the viral load of HIV patients. The positive

anti-viral action was seen not only with the

monoglyceride lauric acid known as monolaurin but with coconut oil itself. "

" More and more longer therapies using monolaurin will have to be designed and

done before the definitive role of coconut

and coconut oil can be determined, " he said.

With such products, the outlook for more efficacious and cheaper anti-HIV

therapy is improved, he pointed out.

The large presence of natural monolaurin, considered one of the most effective

anti-microbial agent, provides coconut

and coconut oil with anti-viral properties. Kabara engaged in research in

natural and synthetic lipids and their

biological activity says that the fat contained in mother's milk and coconut oil

has the most purified monolaurin.

" The highly purified monoglyceride is better known as lauricide rather than

simply monolaurin since the usual commercial

monolaurin is only 45 to 50 per cent pure and has no anti-microbial properties, "

he said.

Referring to the monolaurin found in coconut and mother's milk, Kabara said, " It

is rare in the history of medicine to

find substances that have such useful properties and still be without toxicity

or even harmful side effects. "

Enig, another American scholar, also upheld the view that coconut and

coconut oil have the ability to check the HIV

virus. She indicated this in a paper presented as early as 1997. But at that

time no clinical study was held in this

regard.

The medicinal value of coconut oil has been known in India for thousands of

years. The Indian system of medicine known

as Ayurveda is replete with instances of the use of coconut oil in various

medicinal preparations.

The two scholars also rejected the view that coconut oil causes high cholesterol

and thus paves the way for cardiac

problems. Describing it as baseless Kabara said " considering all the baseless

bad press in the USA about the tropical

oil it is time for the coconut industry to advocate oil change. Our body similar

to our car may be in need of an oil

change if we want it to function properly and reach our optimal health, " he

added.

Dayrit said, " No evidence has ever been presented to prove that coconut oil

causes coronary heart disease in humans. "

All the evidences presented have been in various species of animals that were

given coconut oil without the necessary

dose of essential fats that should be given, he said, adding that

epidemiological evidence proves that coconut oil is

safe.

The need of the hour is to identify and separate the contents, which provides

medicinal value to coconut oil so that

this could be developed on a commercial manner, Kabara said. " Monolaurium

derived from coconut suggests a bright future

for an industry that was once referred to as a sunset industry, " he added.

India Syndicate

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Good Health & Long Life,

Greg , http://optimalhealth.cia.com.au gowatson@...

USDA database (food breakdown) http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/

PubMed (research papers) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

DWIDP (nutrient analysis) http://www.walford.com/dwdemo/dw2b63demo.exe

Patch file for above http://www.walford.com/download/dwidp67u.exe

KIM (omega analysis) http://ods.od.nih.gov/eicosanoids/KIM_Install.exe