There
are often no warning signs for osteoporosis until one experiences a
fracture, often after a minor fall. The most common injuries in people
with osteoporosis are fractures of the wrist, hip and the spinal bones.
However, experts say that daily intake of coconut oil makes bone strong,
thus reducing the possibility of fractures in women reports Sade
Oguntola.Osteoporosis is a condition that affects the bones, causing them to become weak and fragile and more likely to break (fracture). These fractures most commonly occur in the spine, wrist and hips but can affect other bones such as the arm or pelvis.
In childhood, bones grow and repair very quickly, but this process slows one gets older. Bones stop growing in length between the ages of 16 and 18, but continue to increase in density until one is in late 20s. From about 35, one gradually loses bone density.
This is a normal part of ageing, but for some people it can lead to osteoporosis and an increased risk of fractures which could affect spine, wrist and hips, but also other bones such as the arm or pelvis.
Unfortunately, there are often no warning signs for osteoporosis until someone experiences a fracture, often after a minor fall. Also, breaking a wrist can be an early indicator of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Women over 55 with wrist fractures are quite likely to be suffering from osteoporosis and run double the average risk of having a hip fracture in later life.
Women, in fact, are at greater risk for developing osteoporosis than men because they have an imbalance of progesterone to oestrogen. Starting at about age 30 through onset of menopause, women lose a small amount of bone every year as a natural process of ageing. At menopause, due to the decreased level of oestrogen levels, the rate of bone loss increases by approximately eight to 10 years before returning to premenopausal rates. Oestrogen plays an important part in maintaining bone strength.
Supplementation with antioxidants like vitamins C and E has been shown to prevent bone loss in osteoporosis. On the other hand, experts have also found that daily intake of virgin coconut oil could be of help to prevent osteoporosis, thus maintaining strong bones.
Virgin coconut oil improves absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium and thus aid in preventing osteoporosis. Also, it increases absorption of some of the B vitamins, the fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, K, beta-carotene, and some amino acids.
Coconut has long been a primary source of food throughout the tropics. Its various industrial and cosmetic applications have made it a very viable commodity. Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is obtained from fresh, mature coconut kernel without the use of heat and without undergoing refining process. It is different from coconut oil as the former contains a lot more biologically active components like vitamins and polyphenols.
Researchers investigating the effects of virgin coconut oil supplementation on bones fed it to a total of 40 female oestrogen-deficient Wistar rats aged three months old, weighing between 200 and 250 grammes to study its effect on bone strength over a six-week period.
The 2012 study entitled “Virgin Coconut Oil Supplementation Prevents Bone Loss in Osteoporosis Rat Model” was published in the journal, Evidence Based Complement Alternative Medicine.
They found that in animals treated with virgin coconut oil experienced a reversal in the effects of oestrogen deficiency on their bone structure.
They wrote: “This indicates that the administration of virgin coconut oil prevented bone loss and maintained bone strength of oestrogen-depleted rats. Virgin coconut oil completely prevented the bone loss by preserving trabecular bone mass and trabecular network connectivity in the metaphyseal region.”
In addition, the researchers according to their finding suggested that virgin coconut oil was far better than calcium supplements in making bones stronger in the tested animals, linking this to the saturated fats content of the oil ( a medium chain triglycerides (MCTs).
They added that calcium therapy alone was not sufficient for the treatment of osteoporosis because calcium supplementation will only improve fracture healing, but failed to improve bone strength.
While proposing that the beneficial effects of virgin coconut oil to strengthen bone may be due to its antioxidant property, they stated that further studies are required to determine the exact mechanism on how this oil and its chemical constituents provide beneficial effects on bone health.
Based on their findings, they wrote: “. Virgin coconut oil could offer an interesting approach to prevent accelerated bone loss in osteoporosis especially in postmenopausal women.”
Meanwhile, the effect of virgin coconut oil in preventing osteoporosis was said to be similar to that seen in other experimental osteoporosis studies using other plants which are rich in polyphenols such as apple, green tea and olive oil.
Due to the many benefits of virgin coconut oil, researchers are yet to determine accurately how much coconut oil is needed daily to gain optimal health. But the dose that was used in this study is equivalent to 3.5 tablespoons daily for a 72-kilogramme man.
According to the book, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause, it is believed that pregnenolone, a substance our bodies manufacture to make hormones such as progesterone, has the same bone-building effect.
If true, then the pregnenolone-like substances found in coconuts may also assist in maintaining hormone balance and encouraging healthy bones. Fresh coconuts contain fat-like substances called sterols that are comparable in structure to pregnenolone. Prognenolon is a starting material to form the hormone progesterone.
In the body, pregnenolone is converted to progesterone and has the effect of rebuilding bone loss.
Coconut oil has many other health benefits which are attributed to the presence of its fat content. In a study presented before The American College of Chest Physicians on October 29, 2008, coconut oil was found to offer pneumonia patients faster and more complete relief from symptoms.
Another study revealed that consuming coconut oil could protect from germs that cause tooth decay. According to scientists who presented this finding at the Society for General Microbiology’s Autumn Conference at the University of Warwick, the oil is able to fight the bacteria that cause tooth decay.
In addition, coconut oil appears to have a broad impact against many pathogens – making it an important, natural weapon in fighting infections which have grown increasingly resistant to antibiotics.