Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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If coconut and palm oil are high in MCT. Both are solid above 70 degrees (or whatever temp it is). Then why is MCT oil in liquid form. That tells me that MCT liquid is not made up of coconut/palm. Then what is made from?

flag	asked Sep 16 2011 at 15:16 TrynAgain 962●8●24

ancestralpharmd · Answer 1 · 2011-10-10 23:50:21Z UTC

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Coconut and palm (kernel) oil are a mix of MCTs and LCTs (like palmitic acid - hence the name) so they are hard at room temperature, due to those longer saturated fatty acids (12 carbon length and greater).

MCT oils are mostly composed of caprylic (C8) and capric acid (C10) with no LCTs, and so they are liquid at room temp.

However if the MCT product was only or mostly the MCT lauric acid (C12), like coconut oil, it would be solid at room temp due to its higher melting point.

I'd rather eat palm (kernel) oil and coconut oil than MCT oil, for many reasons.

edited Oct 10 2011 at 23:50

answered Sep 16 2011 at 15:56

ancestralpharmd
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I'm curious what your reasons are. I haven't yet tried palm kernel oil, but I find coconut oil rather unpleasant. As a substitute, I recently started taking 1 tablespoon MCT oil per day. – smcdow Sep 16 2011 at 17:29

I believe ancestralpharmd is referring to "palm oil" versus "palm kernel oil" (quite a difference). You can learn about "palm oil" in a post I did a while back...fitnessinanevolutionarydirection.com/2011/09/… – FED at LiveCaveman.com Sep 16 2011 at 18:37

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@ smcdow I generally like to get things in an unrefined form...It tastes better to me and you can get maybe get some micronutrients. @FED You are right big difference and great post! Palm kernel is a better example in this case. I like that red palm oil has the whole spectrum of vitamin E, but like you mentioned, sustainability is an issue. – ancestralpharmd Oct 10 2011 at 23:47

Why is MCT oil liquid?

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