Friday, December 12, 2014

MCT Oil Resources

Medium Chain Triglycerides are a strange thing when it comes to fatty acid oxidation disorders.  For those with CPT2 deficiency, MCTs are fantastic -- they can be metabolized easily and quickly despite CPT2 issues.  For those with other fatty acid oxidation disorders (i.e. MCAD), they can be deadly.  One thing that both ends of the spectrum have in common is a need to understand MCTs -- where they are found and what they do.  I couldn't find a good list of MCT resources, so I'm going to use this post to gather some MCT resources.  I'll update it periodically.

http://mrvitaminsnews.com.au/weight-loss/how-to-get-more-mcts-those-amazing-fats-that-make-you-thin-and-other-fat-facts:  "In the vegetable kingdom there is one other oil with a similar saturated fat profile to coconut oil and that is palm kernel oil.  This too is high in MCTs....  [However], although from the same plant, palm oil has a very different composition to palm kernel oil and is high in polyunsaturated fats that are not good for your cholesterol levels."  They also identify the following as having high MCT content:  Sheep milk, yogurts and cheeses made from sheep's milk.

http://nutritionreview.org/2013/04/medium-chain-triglycerides-mcts/ :  A good article describing how MCTs are metabolized.  It provides pretty good detail (for example, MCTs have 8.3 calories per gram vs 9 calories per gram for LCTs, and that MCTs enjoy accelerated metabolic conversion).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium-chain_triglyceride:  Well, it's Wikipedia so I can't predict what the page will look like in the future.  It currently contains useful information ("MCTs lack the cholesterol raising Myristic and Palmitic Acids") as well as odd information ("The milk fats of horses contain large amounts of medium-chain fatty acids").

http://www.livestrong.com/article/316430-sources-of-medium-chain-triglycerides/:  Easily summarized:  MCTs are found in coconut oil and olive oil (note that other sources do not list olive oil as an MCT source, so it is unclear whether livestrong has this right).  They don't break down the ratio of MCT to other fats in either oil, however.

http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/mct-oil-vs-coconut-oil-the-truth-exposed/: I'm not sure about the value of this article vis-a-vis CPT2.  The article attempts to describe how coconut oil differs from artificially created MCT oil.

http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/article10612.htm: This article was published at "coconutresearchcenter.org", so it may have pro-coconut bias, but it is still a fantastic resource.  It provides a lot of detailed information about the benefits of MCT in coconut oil.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/mct-fats-found-coconut-oil-boost-brain-function-only-one-dose: This article describes a study that purportedly shows that "MCTs ... almost immediately improved cognitive function in older adults with memory disorders."

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa23.htm:  This article looks at MCT oil from the bodybuilding perspective.

http://www.meltorganic.com/what-are-medium-chain-fatty-acids-and-why-are-they-important-to-your-health/:  General description of MCT oil.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-hew-askus25jun25-story.html: Expresses concern that long term use of coconut oil may have adverse cardiovascular effects.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874191/:  A scientific journal article that reports on a study of health impacts of MCT oil.  "Our results suggest that MCT oil can be incorporated into a weight loss program without fear of adversely affecting metabolic risk factors."  Very well sourced article with 32 footnotes.

https://louisville.edu/hsc/compliance/site-medschool-pediatrics/clinical/wcec/genetics/nutrition/about-mct/recipes/MCT%20Recipes.pdf/at_download/file: MCT oil cookbook

http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/mct-oil-vs-coconut-oil-the-truth-exposed/  Differences between MCT Oil and coconut oil.

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