The FastDay Forum

This caught my attention

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/article ... ood-for-me

An excellent programme again this week, though I also wondered about coconut oil and noticed @carorees had asked Dr MM too (any reply?).
The web page has much useful information, including exercises for arthritis I'm now trying.
So folks, 20ml of raw uncooked olive oil daily can actually improve your heart :0)

Wow! Thank you for the link. There is much "food" for thought here as our extended family is really looking at anti-inflammation diet and cooking methods due to health issues (RA, MS, diabetes type 2, allergies, depression and maintaining brain health for a lifetime). Whew!

[carorees]

He replied about coconut oil that he's a big fan but didn't comment on my question about the inflammatory effects of omega 6 oils like sunflower.

The definitive book on fats and oils is still the book "Know your Fats" by Mary Enig which I recently purchased after a very long stay in my wish list. From it: "The important thing to understand is that all fats are basically mixtures of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in different proportions."

From memory of a multitude of sources: The advantages of coconut oil, as a saturated fat medium chain triglyceride (MCT), are that it's absorbed into the blood stream to be used directly as an energy source, doesn't elicit an insulin response and can't be stored by the body as fat. What isn't used as energy is passed out of the body.

Here's a somewhat recent summarizing article:

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscienc ... bile=false