Disadvantages Of Virgin Coconut Oil

Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is a vegetable oil derived from the kernel of Cocos nucifera, L, appearing as a colourless liquid with a distinct coconut odour and flavour. The Philippine National Standards or PNS (Bureau of Product Standards (BPS, 2004) defines VCO as the oil obtained from the fresh, mature kernel of the coconut by mechanical or natural means, with or without the use of heat, without undergoing chemical refining, bleaching or deodorizing which does not lead to the alteration of the nature of the oil. Malaysian Standard (MS2043:2007) and Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) give VCO a similar definition too, by which the processing conditions of VCO are strongly highlighted in order to ensure its natural wholesomeness.

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The emergence of VCO as a functional food is mainly because of its nutritive composition which consists abundance of lauric acid, medium chain triglycerides (MCT) such as capric, caproic and caprylic acids and superior amount of antioxidants and phenolic compounds. All these have been scientifically proven to be beneficial to health. Lauric acid possesses excellent antiviral activity (Hornung, Amtmann & Sauer, 1994) and antibacterial effect (Enig, 1997), reduces total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol and increases high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in serum and tissues (Nevin and Rajamohan, 2004). In addition, MCTs present in VCO which is shorter in chain length and smaller in molecular size are known to have high absorption rate by the human body. MCTs are the unlikely savior for patients suffering from malabsorption caused by intestinal resection and also as a component of infant feeding formulation (Nandi, Gangopadhyay & Ghosh, 2005). It is also reported that MCTs have beneficial effects on weight control as well as glucose and lipid metabolism (Marten, Pfeuffer & Schrezenmeir,

The production and versatility of VCO are expected to increase in the near future. With a growing demand, the quality characteristics of VCO are expected to be further enhanced. One of the characteristics of VCO that concerns consumers and fellow researchers is its strong coconut aroma and flavour that may not be widely accepted, especially in western countries, and its applications in pharmaceutical and medical products may be limited due to the striking odour as well. The further refining of VCO is challenging in terms of preserving the natural desired components in it by minimal and mild processing. In commercial oil refining process, high heat with temperature around 210-260 °C applied especially during deodorization process (O 'Brien, 2009) is highly destructive to the natural components in VCO. Moreover, in order to fulfil the definition of “virgin oils” by Codex Alimentarius 2006, which states that such oils should be suitable for human consumption in its natural state and may be purified by “washing with water, settling, filtering, and centrifuging only”, therefore refining processes by any means are strictly not