Beyond the Groves: Senor Coconut triumphs
In his brilliant book "The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil", an American naturopathic doctor, Bruce Fife, recently proclaimed that coconut oil is the healthiest oil available on earth. This remarkable book deserves more attention than it got because of two reasons: One, because this has started off a new wave of interest in the healing powers of coconut oil; and two, because it confirms the age old wisdom of generations in Kerala, along with those of many tropical countries.

It was not very surprising that coconut oil was forcibly whisked away from many a kitchen in Kerala, due to cholesterol fears, thanks to some forceful lobbying by the Palm oil industry; this 'oil of life' was erroneously held responsible for heart attacks and unjustly blamed for all faulty health risks associated with bad cholesterol.

However, it didn't take very long for many Malayalis to realise the vested interests behind the anti-coconut oil campaigns. It was indeed surprising to note the courage shown by people who after a momentary lapse of reason welcomed their favorite oil - an act, as chivalrous, as the legend of Lord Ram welcoming his Sita back after the test of Fire. Interestingly, the health-scare propaganda lost out to the determination and conviction of the populace.

While all this happened in our backyard, researchers in the US were surprised to find that the Coconut-eating cultures in the tropics have consistently lower cholesterol than people in their own country. If used regularly for cooking purposes, they now say, coconut oil could help protect users from heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative conditions, improve digestion, strengthen the immune system, and even help to lose excess weight. What is more, efforts are on the way to make life saving drugs out of coconut oil; butyric acid is used to treat cancer, lauric and myristic acids to treat virus infections, and mixtures of medium-chain fats are sold for weight loss.

Dr Ray Peat in his path-breaking article on coconut oil mentions an interesting incident. Many years ago Dr Ray met an elderly couple, who were only a few years apart in age. But the wife looked many years younger than her doddering husband. She was from the Philippines, and she remarked that she always had to cook two meals at the same time, because her husband couldn't adapt to her traditional food. So three times a day, she prepared her own food in coconut oil. Her youthful appearance increased Dr Peats interest in the wonder that was coconut oil.

Dr Joseph Mercola, himself an established doctor and an advocate of natural medicine, commented "I use shredded coconut in my vegetable juice pulp. It is a wonderful way to benefit from this product". Dr Joseph Mercola is an osteopathic physician, board certified in family medicine, who runs the Optimal Wellness Center, located outside Chicago in Schaumburg, Illinois. He has been trained in and practices both conventional and natural medicine, but he prefers the later whenever it would suffice.

In a developing country like India, when the existing medical paradigms take the public health system to unaffordable extremes for the poor majority of the population, indigenous medical research should aim to tap the less expensive, traditional, natural diet which could take us a long way in preventing illnesses. In that way we will put to practice that age-old adage "Prevention is better than cure", when it matters most.