Health effects of coconut oil: Summary of evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analysis of interventional studies.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to systematically review and summarize high-quality evidence on the health-related benefits of coconut oil from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of interventional studies.
Results Summary
Coconut oil significantly increased serum total cholesterol, LDL, and HDL levels compared to poly- and mono-unsaturated oils. Limited evidence suggested benefits for atopic dermatitis and dental caries prevention, but conclusions were constrained by the small number of studies.
Population
Not specified (general population inferred from interventional studies).
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
coconut oil | increase | serum total cholesterol | - | - | significantly increases | #1 |
coconut oil | increase | low-density- lipoprotein cholesterol levels | - | - | significantly increases | #2 |
coconut oil | increase | high-density- lipoprotein cholesterol levels | - | - | significantly increases | #3 |
topical use of coconut oil | decrease | atopic dermatitis | - | - | helps in the prevention and treatment | #4 |
oil pulling | decrease | dental caries | - | - | helps in the prevention | #5 |
coconut oil | increase | lipids parameters associated with cardio-metabolic health | - | - | has an adverse effect | #6 |
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Systemic review (SR) and meta-analysis (MA) of interventional studies are considered as the highest level of evidence for clinical decision making. Therefore, we systematically summarized all high-quality evidence on the usage of coconut oil for health-related benefits from SRs and MA. METHODS: PubMed®, Web of science®, SciVerse Scopus®, and EMBASE® databases were systematically searched to select SRs and SRs with MA of interventional studies reporting health-related clinical outcomes of coconut oil. Similar studies were grouped based on their respective clinical areas. A methodological quality appraisal was conducted for all included SRs and SRs with MA using the Critical Appraisal Checklist for Systematic Reviews. RESULTS: A total of seven papers were selected for inclusion in this review, consisting of three MA and one SR on cardio-metabolic health, one SR on oral health, and one SR and one MA each on skin health. Coconut oil significantly increases serum total cholesterol, low-density- and high-density- lipoprotein cholesterol levels compared to poly- and mono-unsaturated oils. Limited studies showed that topical use of coconut oil helps in the prevention and treatment of atopic dermatitis and oil pulling for the prevention of dental caries. All four studies on cardiometabolic health and the SR on oral health had a high score in the quality assessment, SR with MA on skin health fulfilled high-quality scoring whereas the SR on the same topic had a low-quality scoring. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, consistent and strong evidence shows that coconut oil has an adverse effect on the lipids parameters associated with cardio-metabolic health, with limited studies to conclude the effects of atopic dermatitis and oil pulling.