(Dr. Kritchevsky at Wistar told me that their experiments with mice did show coconut oil to increase deposits...) Because of the above advantages, coconut oil is preferred as a medicinal oil in cooking for people who have bad digestion and also in infant feeds to supply fat content. **The addition of coconut oil to infant feeds helps absorption of calcium and magnesium and could help treat rickets in poor nations of the world.** TRUE? Another distinct feature of coconut oil is that it has 2.56% less calories per gramme of fat than all other LCFA oils."

Answer: I have your request for information forwarded to me by ... Eating real coconut oil does not cause cholesterol deposits; it never did and it never will. (Emphasis ours.) The mouse work done by Kritchevsky and others was done using EFA [essential fatty acid] deficient hydrogenated coconut oil; this is not the food oil eaten all over the world. Yes, coconut oil does provide fewer calories because of its high content (65%) of medium chain fatty acids, and yes they are more readily digested than the long chain fatty acids. Coconut oil is added to infant formulas to try to duplicate human milk; the lauric acid provides antimicrobial support and the absorption of minerals is enhanced."

For those interested in, or concerned about cholesterol in general I would recommend visiting the site referenced below in order to get some information from a party which is not (directly or indirectly) trying to sell you cholesterol medication.

The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics (THINCS) is a steadily growing group of scientists, physicians, other academicians and science writers from various countries. Members of this group represent different views about the causation of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, some of them are in conflict with others, but this is a normal part of Science. What we all oppose is that animal fat and high cholesterol play a role. The aim with this web site is to inform our colleagues and the public that this idea is not supported by scientific evidence; in fact, for many years a huge number of scientific studies have directly contradicted it. visit THINCS