In the beginning of September your Whole Foods devoted, yoga obsessed friend may have been inconsolable after Harvard epidemiologist Karin Michels called their favorite new food trend, coconut oil, “pure poison” during a lecture in Germany that went viral titled “Coconut Oil and Other Nutritional Errors.” Food critic and Senior Editor at The Atlantic Corby Kummer told Boston Public Radio Tuesday some information about coconut oil that may help your friend finally get out of their homeopathic, CBD oil infused depression — coconut oil is fine for you in moderation.
“[Coconut oil] came into vogue and it came back into fashion because ome of the fat within it are good for you. Every fat you eat is a combination of different kinds of fat. Some have the good effects for your heart, some have the bad effects. Should you eliminate it? No you should not eliminate it, but you shouldn’t eat in excess either,” Kummer said.
While coconut oil may seem like the newest health food trend, Kummer pointed out that the oil has a long tradition of being used in India, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Polynesia. Kummer may not be too worried about the use of coconut oil, but he is worried about the effects of the other oils people may use now that coconut oil has gained a reputation for being unhealthy.
“Whenever you are saying don’t eat something," he said. "What nutritionists have to look at what people are going to eat instead, and is that worse. “