Coconut Oil Could Check the Aids Virus

Journal Of Medical Sciences
Chennai, August 3, 2001

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 agents. 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."
Mary 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