Research has shown that coconut oil is needed for good absorption of fat and calcium from infant formulas. The soy oil (47%) and palm olein (53%) formula gave 90.6% absorption of fat and 39% absorption of calcium, whereas the soy oil (60%) and coconut oil (40%) gave 95.2% absorption of fat and 48.4% absorption of calcium (Nelson et al 1996). Both fat and calcium are needed by the infant for proper growth. These results clearly show the folly of removing or lowering the coconut oil in infant formulas.

XI. RESEARCH SHOWING A ROLE FOR COCONUT IN ENHANCING IMMUNITY AND MODULATING METABOLIC FUNCTIONS

Coconut oil appears to help the immune system response in a beneficial manner. Feeding coconut oil in the diet completely abolished the expected immune factor responses to endotoxin that were seen with corn oil feeding. This inhibitory effect on interleukin-1 production was interpreted by the authors of the study as being largely due to a reduced prostaglandin and leukotriene production (Wan and Grimble 1987). However, the damping may be due to the fact that effects from high omega-6 oils tend to be normalized by coconut oil feeding. Another report from this group (Bibby and Grimble 1990) compared the effects of corn oil and coconut oil diets on tumor necrosis factor-alpha and endotoxin induction of the inflammatory prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production. The animals fed coconut oil did not produce an increase in PGE2, and the researchers again interpreted this as a modulatory effect that brought about a reduction of phospholipd arachidonic acid content. A study from the same research group (Tappia and Grimble 1994) showed that omega-6 oil enhanced inflammatory stimuli, but that coconut oil, along with fish oil and olive oil, suppressed the production of interleukin-1.

Several recent studies are showing additional helpful effects of consuming coconut oil on a regular basis, thus supplying the body with the lauric acid derivative monolaurin. Monolaurin and the ether analogue of monolaurin have been shown to have the potential for damping adverse reactions to toxic forms of glutamic acid (Dave et al 1997). Lauric acid and capric acid have been reported to have very potent effects on insulin secretion (Garfinkel et al 1992). Using a model system of murine splenocytes, Witcher et al 1996 showed that monolaurin induced proliferation of T cells and inhibited the toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 mitogenic effects on T cells.