Coconut Oil For Cancer

Coconut oil has many benefits. It can be heated to a high temperature, is easy to digest, aromatic, and can also be used externally, for example, to treat skin fungi. Coconut oil can also be used to treat cancer, e.g. B. as part of a specific program – the so-called ketogenic cleansing. Even small amounts of coconut oil supplementation can improve the quality of life during chemotherapy.

Coconut oil for cancer

Coconut oil has been one of the staple foods of many peoples in tropical regions for many millennia. Traditionally, the oil is not only eaten there but is also used for hair and skin care. Coconut oil has many valuable health properties, including those that can contribute to the successful treatment or prevention of cancer.

Studies on animals have now shown that coconut oil can also inhibit the formation of carcinogenic substances in the intestines and in breast tumors. In these studies, coconut oil was also able to provide better protection against colon and breast cancer than oils with predominantly unsaturated fatty acids. In particular, it is the medium-chain lauric acid in coconut oil that shows anti-cancer effects.

Cell studies have shown that coconut oil (all classes, including refined coconut oil) is particularly effective against liver cancer cells and mouth and throat cancer cells.

An early 1992 study found that rats fed a 23 percent fat diet had an increased risk of cancer when the 23 percent fat consisted of corn oil, safflower oil, lard, or beef tallow. The animals were less likely to develop cancer if their diet was low in fat, i.e. only 5 percent of these oils or fats.

However, when the animals were fed coconut oil, olive oil, or fish oil, the fat percentage could be as high as 23 percent without increasing their cancer rate compared to a low-fat diet with just 5 percent of these oils.

Coconut oil is easy to digest

Coconut oil is a very special oil. In contrast to other oils, it consists largely of the rare so-called medium-chain fatty acids (medium-chain triglycerides = MCT). These fatty acids can be absorbed without digestive enzymes and without bile acid.

Coconut oil is therefore ideal for people with digestive problems, including cancer patients who have damaged intestinal mucosa due to chemotherapy. The medium-chain fatty acids are also responsible for many of coconut oil’s other health benefits.

Coconut oil for a balanced blood sugar level

The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil, for example, are hardly stored in the fatty tissue and therefore do not lead to obesity as quickly as other fats and oils. Instead, they are preferably used to generate energy.

For this purpose, they are converted into so-called ketones in the liver, which in turn can then be used as fuel by most body cells – similar to glucose (sugar). In contrast to glucose, however, ketones hardly affect the blood sugar level and therefore do not lead to an excessive insulin surge – as glucose does.

Coconut oil for chronic inflammation

If you eat more coconut oil and fewer carbohydrates at the same time, the consequences of uncontrolled blood sugar fluctuations and excessively high insulin levels do not occur.

These consequences not only include cravings and obesity but also – since blood sugar fluctuations massively promote inflammatory processes – all diseases that are associated with chronic inflammation. For example, did you know that even DNA changes that can lead to the development of cancer preferentially take place in an inflammatory environment?

Coconut oil for heart and blood vessels

However, inflammatory processes are also involved in the development of arteriosclerosis and are therefore a risk factor for high blood pressure and stroke. So, coconut oil can support cardiovascular health in this way.

In addition, it has been known from numerous studies since the 80s and 90s that coconut oil – although it is one of the saturated fatty acids – has a rather positive effect on cholesterol levels. Unlike corn or soybean oil, coconut oil has been shown to raise good HDL cholesterol at most, but never bad LDL cholesterol.

In addition, it has been shown that certain viruses (herpes and cytomegalovirus) can promote the formation of deposits in the blood vessels and can even lead to the narrowing of the arteries again after surgical expansion of blocked blood vessels. But one of the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil works against these viruses so the coconut oil can also keep the blood vessels healthy and protect them from cardiovascular problems via this indirect route.

How does coconut oil fight cancer?

Coconut oil also takes the indirect route in the case of cancer, for which you have to go back a bit: Our cells generate energy by burning glucose with the help of oxygen, or by their small power plants – the mitochondria. One then speaks of cellular respiration.

Cancer cells do not need oxygen

However, the mitochondria can now be damaged by free radicals, environmental toxins, viruses, an overly acidic environment, or by chronic inflammation. When this is the case, they often lose their ability for healthy cellular respiration. Now the cell is suffering from shortness of breath. She “can’t breathe” anymore.

In order not to “suffocate” and to be able to remain functional, it switches to a different metabolic mode. From now on, it will produce energy via fermentation processes. The glucose is no longer burned with oxygen, but fermented without oxygen involvement. There is a good chance that this cell will turn into a cancer cell since one of the main characteristics of cancer cells is precisely this oxygen-free metabolic pathway.

Metastases produce 200 times more energy than healthy cells

Even if sufficient oxygen were available in the organism, the cancer cell would not use it. Their energy yield through fermentation is much higher, almost phenomenal. Fast-growing metastases produce around two hundred times as much energy as a healthy cell. No wonder tumors often seem to double overnight.

The famous cell biologist Otto Warburg is the discoverer of this cancer cell-typical metabolic change. He showed that cancer cells are not able to produce enough energy with the help of normal cell respiration, instead, they use fermentation processes.

Cancer needs sugar

For their fermentation processes, however, the cancer cell needs sugar, a lot of sugar (glucose). So when a person’s diet is high in sugar or carbohydrates (especially the isolated carbohydrates found in cakes, sweets, and white flour), then the cancer cells present are always well-fed. They grow and thrive.

The risk of recurrence after surviving cancer is also much higher if you eat lots of sugar and lots of pasta and baked goods. And even in the case of lung cancer, a high-sugar diet is considered to be a risk factor that is just as strong as smoking.

Cancer cells even have 10 times more insulin receptors on their cell surface than healthy cells. The more insulin receptors a cell has, the more sugar it can absorb. A cancer cell can therefore gobble up glucose and other nutrients from the bloodstream much faster than any other cell. It literally pulls in the nutrients, while the remaining healthy cells receive less and less nourishment. The result: The tumor grows and grows, and the affected person is emaciated and becomes fewer and fewer.

Starve cancer cells

How could this fateful process be broken? Just not eat anymore? Then the cancer cells starve, but the person dies with it. In alternative medicine, the so-called ketogenic cleansing is considered a possible solution.

The term “ketogenic” refers to the formation of ketones from e.g. B. coconut oil. Do you remember? The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are converted into ketones in the liver and can now be used in this form by most body cells as an energy source. When ketones are present, healthy cells no longer need sugar (glucose). They use ketones as fuel.

However, cancer cells do not know what to do with ketones. They need glucose to sustain their incredible energy expenditure. If only ketones remain in the bloodstream, the cancer cells starve.

The ketogenic cleanse

dr Thomas Seyfried, who further developed Otto Warburg’s theses, showed that the optimal blood sugar levels for killing cancer cells are between 55 and 65 mg/dl. The ketone values ​​should be above 3 mmol/liter and below 7 mmol/liter at the same time.

With ketogenic cleaning, these values ​​​​should also be achieved. The ketogenic cleanse is a type of fast where you consume nothing but coconut oil, water, special antioxidant supplements, and the components of a colon cleanse.

The ketogenic cleanse should be done between three and ten days. In the case of existing cancer with metastases, according to Dr. Seyfried – if the personal constitution allows it – for a full ten days.

Coconut oil improves the quality of life in cancer

A 2014 study looked at how coconut oil affected the quality of life of breast cancer patients (2).

Participants in the study were 60 women with breast cancer (stage III and IV) with an average age of 50 years. Half belonged to the coconut oil group, the other half received no supplementation. From the third to the sixth chemotherapy cycle, the coconut oil group received 10 ml of native cold-pressed coconut oil (VCO = Virgin Coconut Oil) twice a day, starting one week after the chemotherapy.

Significant differences in the condition of the two groups of patients could be observed. In the coconut oil group, compared to the coconut oil-free group, it was found that the women were better off. They suffered less from fatigue, had fewer problems sleeping, less shortness of breath, more appetite, and overall had a better quality of life.

Of course, supplementing with 20 mg of coconut oil per day cannot be compared to ketogenic cleansing, but the study shows that you can also integrate small amounts of coconut oil into conventional cancer therapy and benefit from it.

Coconut oil – The anti-cancer effect

In summary, this means that coconut oil supplies the healthy cells of the organism with ketones, i.e. with fuel, without nourishing the cancer cells. At the same time, coconut oil helps to create a healthier environment, as it supports the breakdown of inflammatory processes.

The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil also have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal effects, which also relieve the immune system and regulate intestinal flora. Especially in people suffering from cancer, there is often a dysbiosis, i.e. an imbalance in the intestinal flora or even a fungal infestation, so that the coconut oil can be active on many levels at the same time.

Important note: Of course, coconut oil can only ever be ONE component in a comprehensive cancer therapy concept. So the above information does not mean that coconut oil alone can cure cancer. Of course, that is not the case. From a naturopathic point of view, the holistic basic concept should first be applied to chronic diseases. In addition, other forms of therapy – depending on the type of cancer and condition – are used.