Coconut Oil ~ Good Choice for Thyroid

April 30, 2015 / Thyroid Health / Source: Health

Did you know that the oils you use could either highly benefit or negatively affect your thyroid health?   The biggest offenders are vegetable oils or polyunsaturated oils…with the largest source of commercially prepared foods coming from the soybean.  If you have done any research about foods and thyroid then you probably already know that there’s a lot of information regarding the detrimental effects of soy on the thyroid gland. 

So, what type of oils are good for us?  The answer, saturated oils…especially coconut oil which is primarily made up of medium chain fatty acids, which are known to increase metabolism and help with weight loss.  In fact, it appears that by eliminating polyunsaturated fats from our diets and replacing them with saturated oils, such as coconut oil, our cell membranes will rebuild in time, which in turn will help with the conversion of T4 to T3 thyroid hormones.  Therefore, where unsaturated oils are stated to block protein digestion in the stomach, cause many hormone changes, and interfere with thyroid function, coconut oil is believed to stimulate metabolism and help prevent weight gain.

For more information on oils and how they affect our thyroid check out the following links:

Thyroid Problems & Coconut Oil

Coconut Oil Benefits for Thyroid Health

NOTE:  The latter link has a cool tidbit of info regarding how polyunsaturated oils are typically used to feed livestock to help them gain weight and saturated fats are fed to pigs to keep them lean…and guess which one the majority of people eat (and is in most commercially made foods)?  Yep, polyunsaturated oils!  I think it is time for a switch…don’t you?!