Coconut for UC?

My grandparents just called and read me this article :

By Joe and Terry Graedon

The People's Pharmacy

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Question: Thank you for writing about coconut for treating ulcerative colitis. I was diagnosed with colitis in 1980 and had 3 feet of my colon removed. My condition was moderate to severe, and I was taking eight tablets of sulfasalazine every day to control it, along with Rowasa enemas daily.

I started ingesting shredded coconut twice a day after reading your article, though I had no expectation it would help. Within a few weeks, my symptoms had lessened, and in about a month, I had gone into complete remission. A year later, I had a colonoscopy showing a healthy colon.

<!--endtext--> I gradually cut back my medication and have not taken anything for the condition for five years. I feel well and have had no GI problems. I read that coconut has anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties and think it must be true.

Answer: We have heard from others who suffered from severe diarrhea associated with inflammatory bowel disease that coconut macaroon cookies or shredded coconut alone can be helpful. We doubt that many people with ulcerative colitis would respond as dramatically as you have, but we certainly are delighted to learn that this remedy was beneficial for such a serious condition.

Anybody have experience with this?????

Thanks so much always for your support!

Coconut is most definitely not a good fat!  Coconut oil and palm oil are two of the worst fats out there.  I have never heard of someone gaining remission from eating coconut but it is true that if you have diarrhea it really slows it down.  It won't hurt to try it but take you arteries in consideration.

Sue

suebear said...

Coconut is most definitely not a good fat!  Coconut oil and palm oil are two of the worst fats out there.  I have never heard of someone gaining remission from eating coconut but it is true that if you have diarrhea it really slows it down.  It won't hurt to try it but take you arteries in consideration.

Sue

Yes it most definitely is a good fat, you're going by OLD and wrong information....

Modern researchers have discovered important health benefits and critical bodily functions that are supported by the pool of MCFAs available to the human body. The high concentration of Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs) of 62% is the critical aspect of why this tropical oil not only behaves differently to any other saturated fat, but is also deemed healthier than most unsaturated oils, the latter often having a much higher concentration of long chain fatty acids.. Generally MCFAs are of a smaller particle size thus requiring less energy and fewer enzymes for absorption, placing less strain on the digestive system .

This is further enhanced by the fact that short and medium chain fatty acids are made soluble and absorbed in the aqueous phase of the intestinal contents and transported directly via the portal vein to the liver where they are consumed as an energy source similar to carbohydrates. MCFA have also been shown to assist the absorption and retention of calcium, magnesium and some amino acids as well supporting the healthy functioning of the thyroid.

Notwithstanding all the bodily functions that may be enhanced by the consumption of MCFAs the most outstanding finding of modern research has been the capacity of certain MCFA to enhance the human immune system and actively participate in the capacity of the human body to fight virus, bacteria and fungi.

:)

I eat a lot of coconut, I put coconut oil in smoothies and I also use coconut flakes in yogurt or granola. When I was on the SCD diet I seriously ate coconut every day and I still suffered badly from UC. This was when I wasn't taking medication - my flare got out of control and I was desperate to find something to help so I tried the SCD diet with no luck.

I ordered the supplements last night from vitamin shoppe.

Vega19...how many mgs do you take?

Kiss...how ya feeling these days? are you still doing the spinach diet? I still can not believe you are in remission. I also can not believe I do not motivate myself to give it a whirl.

I heard about the coconut thing and I gave it a try. The only thing it did was increase my calorie intake because cocnut milk has lots more calories than the soy milk I was using. Plus I use coconut oil cooking, but I was adding it on sandwiches which also added a couple of hundred calories to everything.

Recently I saw some coconut juice in the hippy store I go to and on the can it says it is a good source of magnesium and potassium. It is possible that the coconut diet works based on the same properties as the spinach/sunflower seed diet. Lots of magnesium seems to do a body good. Soomething to think about.

     When I was flaring my nutritionist gave me a low residue diet to follow and I believe coconut was a no no.

I drank coconut water (first from an actual coconut, and then from a box from Whole Foods) when I was flaring last year, but it didn't seem to help my UC. I quit after a while b/c I got sick of the taste. I have yet to try macaroons!

I read about the macaroon cookies a couple years ago and I thought I would try it. I had a couple a day and know what happened? I got sick of eating macaroons! I can honestly say that it didn't affect my Uc either way.