Coconut Oil RP椰子油
I have already discussed the many toxic effects of the unsaturated oils, and I have frequently mentioned that coconut oil doesn't have those toxic effects, though it does contain a small amount of the unsaturated oils. Many people have asked me to write something on coconut oil. I thought I might write a small book on it, but I realize that there are no suitable channels for distributing such a book–if the seed-oil industry can eliminate major corporate food products that have used coconut oil for a hundred years, they certainly have the power to prevent dealers from selling a book that would affect their market more seriously. For the present, I will just outline some of the virtues of coconut oil. 我已经讨论过不饱和油的许多毒性作用,而且我经常提到椰子油没有这些毒性作用,尽管它确实含少量的不饱和油。很多人让我写一些关于椰子油的东西。我想我可以写一本关于椰子油的书,但我意识到没有合适的渠道来发行这样的书——如果籽油行业能够淘汰使用椰子油100年的主要企业食品,他们当然有权力阻止经销商销售那些会对他们的市场造成更严重影响的书。所以目前,我只能在这说说椰子油的一些优点。
The unsaturated oils in some cooked foods become rancid in just a few hours, even at refrigerator temperatures, and are responsible for the stale taste of left-over foods. (Eating slightly stale food isn't particularly harmful, since the same oils, even when eaten absolutely fresh, will oxidize at a much higher rate once they are in the body, where they are heated and thoroughly mixed with an abundance of oxygen.) Coconut oil that has been kept at room temperature for a year has been tested for rancidity, and showed no evidence of it. Since we would expect the small percentage of unsaturated oils naturally contained in coconut oil to become rancid, it seems that the other (saturated) oils have an antioxidative effect: I suspect that the dilution keeps the unstable unsaturated fat molecules spatially separated from each other, so they can't interact in the destructive chain reactions that occur in other oils. To interrupt chain-reactions of oxidation is one of the functions of antioxidants, and it is possible that a sufficient quantity of coconut oil in the body has this function. It is well established that dietary coconut oil reduces our need for vitamin E, but I think its antioxidant role is more general than that, and that it has both direct and indirect antioxidant activities. 一些熟食中的不饱和油即使在冰箱温度下,也会在几小时内腐臭,这是剩饭味道不新鲜的原因。(吃稍微变质的食物并不是特别有害,因为同样的油,即使是完全新鲜的油,一旦进入体内,被加热并与充足的氧气充分混合,氧化的速度会高得多。)在室温下存放一年的椰子油进行了酸味测试,没有显示出酸味。因为我们认为椰子油中天然含有的少量不饱和油会变质,所以其他(饱和)油似乎有抗氧化作用:我怀疑,稀释使不稳定的不饱和脂肪分子在空间上彼此分离,这样它们就不会发生发生在其他油中的破坏性连锁反应。中断氧化的连锁反应是抗氧化剂的功能之一,可能体内足够量的椰子油就有这种功能。众所周知,食用椰子油可以减少我们对维生素E的需求,但我认为它的抗氧化作用更广泛,它有直接和间接的抗氧化活性。
Coconut oil is unusually rich in short and medium chain fatty acids. Shorter chain length allows fatty acids to be metabolized without use of the carnitine transport system. Mildronate, which I discussed in an article on adaptogens, protects cells against stress partly by opposing the action of carnitine, and comparative studies showed that added carnitine had the opposite effect, promoting the oxidation of unsaturated fats during stress, and increasing oxidative damage to cells. I suspect that a degree of saturation of the oxidative apparatus by short-chain fatty acids has a similar effect–that is, that these very soluble and mobile short-chain saturated fats have priority for oxidation, because they don't require carnitine transport into the mitochondrion, and that this will tend to inhibit oxidation of the unstable, peroxidizable unsaturated fatty acids. 椰子油富含短链和中链脂肪酸。较短的链长允许脂肪酸在不使用肉碱运输系统的情况下进行代谢。我在一篇关于适应原的文章中讨论过的米膦酸盐,部分通过反对肉碱的作用来保护细胞免受压力,比较研究表明,添加肉碱具有相反的效果,促进应激时不饱和脂肪的氧化,增加细胞的氧化损伤。我猜想饱和度短链脂肪酸的氧化装置也有类似的效应——也就是说,这些可溶性和移动短链饱和脂肪氧化优先,因为他们不需要肉碱运输到线粒体,而这往往会抑制氧化的不稳定,过氧不饱和脂肪酸。
When Albert Schweitzer operated his clinic in tropical Africa, he said it was many years before he saw any cases of cancer, and he believed that the appearance of cancer was caused by the change to the European type of diet. In the l920s, German researchers showed that mice on a fat-free diet were practically free of cancer. Since then, many studies have demonstrated a very close association between consumption of unsaturated oils and the incidence of cancer. 当Albert Schweitzer在热带非洲经营他的诊所时,他说他在许多年以前才看到癌症的病例,他相信癌症的出现是由欧洲饮食类型的改变引起的。20世纪20年代,德国研究人员发现,吃无脂肪食物的老鼠几乎没有癌症。从那时起,许多研究表明,不饱和油的消费与癌症发病率之间有非常密切的联系。
Heart damage is easily produced in animals by feeding them linoleic acid; this “essential” fatty acid turned out to be the heart toxin in rape-seed oil. The addition of saturated fat to the experimental heart-toxic oil-rich diet protects against the damage to heart cells. 给动物喂食亚油酸很容易造成心脏损伤;这种“必需”脂肪酸被证明是菜籽油中的心脏毒素。在实验性的富含对心脏有害的油脂的饮食中加入饱和脂肪可以保护心脏细胞免受损害。
Immunosuppression was observed in patients who were being “nourished” by intravenous emulsions of “essential fatty acids,” and as a result coconut oil is used as the basis for intravenous fat feeding, except in organ-transplant patients. For those patients, emulsions of unsaturated oils are used specifically for their immunosuppressive effects. 在静脉注射必需脂肪酸乳剂“滋养”的患者中观察到免疫抑制,因此椰子油被用作静脉脂肪喂养的基础,器官移植患者除外。对于这些患者,不饱和油乳剂是专门用于其免疫抑制作用。
General aging, and especially aging of the brain, is increasingly seen as being closely associated with lipid peroxidation. 一般的衰老,特别是大脑的衰老,越来越被认为与脂质过氧化密切相关。
Several years ago I met an old couple, who were only a few years apart in age, but the wife looked many years younger than her doddering old husband. She was from the Philippines, and she remarked that she always had to cook two meals at the same time, because her husband couldn't adapt to her traditional food. Three times every day, she still prepared her food in coconut oil. Her apparent youth increased my interest in the effects of coconut oil. 几年前,我遇到一对老夫妇,他们的年龄只相差几年,但妻子看起来比她老态龙钟的丈夫年轻许多。她来自菲律宾,她说她总是必须同时做两顿饭,因为她的丈夫无法适应她的传统食物。每天三次,她仍然用椰子油做饭。她显然很年轻,这让我对椰子油的功效更感兴趣了。
In the l960s, Hartroft and Porta gave an elegant argument for decreasing the ratio of unsaturated oil to saturated oil in the diet (and thus in the tissues). They showed that the “age pigment” is produced in proportion to the ratio of oxidants to antioxidants, multiplied by the ratio of unsaturated oils to saturated oils. More recently, a variety of studies have demonstrated that ultraviolet light induces peroxidation in unsaturated fats, but not saturated fats, and that this occurs in the skin as well as in vitro. Rabbit experiments, and studies of humans, showed that the amount of unsaturated oil in the diet strongly affects the rate at which aged, wrinkled skin develops. The unsaturated fat in the skin is a major target for the aging and carcinogenic effects of ultraviolet light, though not necessarily the only one. 在20世纪60年代,Hartroft和Porta提出了一个关于降低饮食中(以及组织中)不饱和油与饱和油比例的优美论点。他们指出,“年龄色素”的产生与氧化剂和抗氧化剂的比例,乘以不饱和油和饱和油的比例成正比。最近,各种各样的研究表明紫外线会诱导不饱和脂肪,但不是饱和脂肪的过氧化作用,这在皮肤和体外都有发生。兔子实验和对人类的研究表明,饮食中不饱和油脂的含量对皮肤老化、起皱的速度有很大影响。皮肤中的不饱和脂肪是紫外线老化和致癌作用的主要目标,但不一定是唯一的目标。
In the l940s, farmers attempted to use cheap coconut oil for fattening their animals, but they found that it made them lean, active and hungry. For a few years, an antithyroid drug was found to make the livestock get fat while eating less food, but then it was found to be a strong carcinogen, and it also probably produced hypothyroidism in the people who ate the meat. By the late l940s, it was found that the same antithyroid effect, causing animals to get fat without eating much food, could be achieved by using soy beans and corn as feed. bu在20世纪40年代,农民试图用廉价的椰子油来给他们的动物增肥,但他们发现它使动物变得瘦弱、活跃和饥饿。几年来,人们发现一种抗甲状腺药物能让牲畜在少吃食物的情况下变胖,但随后又发现它是一种强致癌物,而且它还可能让吃肉的人患上甲状腺功能减退。到20世纪40年代末,人们发现使用大豆和玉米作为饲料也能达到同样的抗甲状腺作用,使动物在不吃太多食物的情况下变胖。
Later, an animal experiment fed diets that were low or high in total fat, and in different groups the fat was provided by pure coconut oil, or a pure unsaturated oil, or by various mixtures of the two oils. At the end of their lives, the animals' obesity increased directly in proportion to the ratio of unsaturated oil to coconut oil in their diet, and was not related to the total amount of fat they had consumed. That is, animals which ate just a little pure unsaturated oil were fat, and animals which ate a lot of coconut oil were lean. 随后,动物实验饲喂总脂肪含量低或高的饲粮,不同组的脂肪由纯椰子油、纯不饱和油或两种油的各种混合物提供。在它们生命的最后阶段,动物的肥胖程度与它们饮食中不饱和油和椰子油的比例成正比,而与它们摄入的脂肪总量无关。也就是说,只吃少量纯不饱和油的动物是脂肪,而吃大量椰子油的动物是瘦肉。
In the l930s, animals on a diet lacking the unsaturated fatty acids were found to be “hypermetabolic.” Eating a “normal” diet, these animals were malnourished, and their skin condition was said to be caused by a “deficiency of essential fatty acids.” But other researchers who were studying vitamin B6 recognized the condition as a deficiency of that vitamin. They were able to cause the condition by feeding a fat-free diet, and to cure the condition by feeding a single B vitamin. The hypermetabolic animals simply needed a better diet than the “normal,” fat-fed, cancer-prone animals did. 在20世纪30年代,缺乏不饱和脂肪酸饮食的动物被发现是“代谢过度”。这些动物虽然饮食“正常”,但却营养不良,据说它们的皮肤状况是由“必需脂肪酸缺乏”引起的。但其他研究维生素B6的研究人员认为,这种情况是缺乏这种维生素。他们能够通过无脂饮食引起疾病,并通过单一的维生素B治疗疾病。高代谢动物只是需要比“正常”、脂肪喂养的、容易患癌症的动物更好的饮食。
G. W. Crile and his wife found that the metabolic rate of people in Yucatan, where coconut is a staple food, averaged 25% higher than that of people in the United States. In a hot climate, the adaptive tendency is to have a lower metabolic rate, so it is clear that some factor is more than offsetting this expected effect of high environmental temperatures. The people there are lean, and recently it has been observed that the women there have none of the symptoms we commonly associate with the menopause. G. W. Crile和他的妻子发现,在以椰子为主食的尤卡坦半岛,人们的新陈代谢率平均比美国人高出25%。在炎热的气候中,适应的趋势是有较低的代谢率,因此很明显,某些因素超过了高环境温度的预期影响。那里的人都很瘦,最近观察发现那里的女性没有任何我们通常认为与更年期有关的症状。
By l950, then, it was established that unsaturated fats suppress the metabolic rate, apparently creating hypothyroidism. Over the next few decades, the exact mechanisms of that metabolic damage were studied. Unsaturated fats damage the mitochondria, partly by suppressing the repiratory enzyme, and partly by causing generalized oxidative damage. The more unsaturated the oils are, the more specifically they suppress tissue response to thyroid hormone, and transport of the hormone on the thyroid transport protein. 到1950年,不饱和脂肪会抑制代谢率,明显导致甲状腺功能减退。在接下来的几十年里,人们对代谢损伤的确切机制进行了研究。不饱和脂肪破坏线粒体,部分通过抑制呼吸酶,部分通过引起全面性氧化损伤。油的不饱和程度越高,就越能抑制组织对甲状腺激素的反应,以及激素对甲状腺转运蛋白的转运。
Plants evolved a variety of toxins designed to protect themselves from “predators,” such as grazing animals. Seeds contain a variety of toxins, that seem to be specific for mammalian enzymes, and the seed oils themselves function to block proteolytic digestive enzymes in the stomach. The thyroid hormone is formed in the gland by the action of a proteolytic enzyme, and the unsaturated oils also inhibit that enzyme. Similar proteolytic enzymes involved in clot removal and phagocytosis appear to be similarly inhibited by these oils. 植物进化出各种各样的毒素来保护自己免受“捕食者”的伤害,比如食草动物。种子含有各种各样的毒素,这些毒素似乎是哺乳动物的酶所特有的,而种子油本身的功能是阻止胃里的蛋白质水解消化酶。甲状腺激素是在蛋白质水解酶的作用下在腺体中形成的,不饱和油也抑制这种酶。类似的蛋白水解酶参与凝块去除和吞噬,似乎同样被这些油抑制。
Just as metabolism is “activated” by consumption of coconut oil, which prevents the inhibiting effect of unsaturated oils, other inhibited processes, such as clot removal and phagocytosis, will probably tend to be restored by continuing use of coconut oil. 正如代谢是通过食用椰子油来“激活”的,椰子油阻止了不饱和油的抑制作用,其他被抑制的过程,如凝块去除和吞噬作用,可能会通过持续使用椰子油来恢复。
Brain tissue is very rich in complex forms of fats. The experiment (around 1978) in which pregnant mice were given diets containing either coconut oil or unsaturated oil showed that brain development was superior in the young mice whose mothers ate coconut oil. Because coconut oil supports thyroid function, and thyroid governs brain development, including myelination, the result might simply reflect the difference between normal and hypothyroid individuals. However, in 1980, experimenters demonstrated that young rats fed milk containing soy oil incorporated the oil directly into their brain cells, and had structurally abnormal brain cells as a result. 脑组织富含复杂形式的脂肪。在1978年前后的一项实验中,给怀孕的老鼠喂食含有椰子油或不饱和油的食物,结果表明,母亲吃椰子油的幼鼠的大脑发育更好。因为椰子油支持甲状腺功能,而甲状腺控制着包括髓鞘形成在内的大脑发育,这一结果可能仅仅反映了正常和甲状腺功能低下个体之间的差异。然而,在1980年,实验人员证明,喂食含有豆油的牛奶的幼鼠,直接将豆油加入它们的脑细胞,结果导致脑细胞结构异常。
Lipid peroxidation occurs during seizures, and antioxidants such as vitamin E have some anti-seizure activity. Currently, lipid peroxidation is being found to be involved in the nerve cell degeneration of Alzheimer's disease. 在癫痫发作期间会发生脂质过氧化,维生素E等抗氧化剂具有一定的抗癫痫活性。目前,脂质过氧化被发现与阿尔茨海默病的神经细胞变性有关。
Various fractions of coconut oil are coming into use as “drugs,” meaning that they are advertised as treatments for diseases. Butyric acid is used to treat cancer, lauric and myristic acids to treat virus infections, and mixtures of medium-chain fats are sold for weight loss. Purification undoubtedly increases certain effects, and results in profitable products, but in the absence of more precise knowledge, I think the whole natural product, used as a regular food, is the best way to protect health. The shorter-chain fatty acids have strong, unpleasant odors; for a couple of days after I ate a small amount of a medium-chain triglyceride mixture, my skin oil emitted a rank, goaty smell. Some people don't seem to have that reaction, and the benefits might outweigh the stink, but these things just haven't been in use long enough to know whether they are safe. 椰子油的各种成分被用作“药物”,这意味着它们被宣传为治疗疾病的药物。丁酸用于治疗癌症,月桂酸和肉豆蔻酸用于治疗病毒感染,中链脂肪混合物用于减肥。净化无疑会增加一定的效果,产生有利可图的产品,但在缺乏更精确的知识的情况下,我认为纯天然的产品,作为常规食品,是最好的保护健康的方法。短链脂肪酸有强烈、难闻的气味;在我吃了少量中链甘油三酯混合物后的几天里,我的皮肤油散发出一种难闻的山羊味。有些人似乎没有这种反应,好处可能超过臭味,但这些东西使用的时间还不够长,不知道它们是否安全。
We have to remember that the arguments made for aspartame, monosodium glutamate, aspartic acid, and tryptophan–that they are like the amino acids that make up natural proteins–are dangerously false. In the case of amino acids, balance is everything. Aspartic and glutamic acids promote seizures and cause brain damage, and are intimately involved in the process of stress-induced brain aging, and tryptophan by itself is carcinogenic. Treating any complex natural product as the drug industry does, as a raw material to be fractionated in the search for “drug” products, is risky, because the relevant knowledge isn't sought in the search for an association between a single chemical and a single disease. 我们必须记住,关于阿斯巴甜、谷氨酸钠、天冬氨酸和色氨酸——它们就像组成天然蛋白质的氨基酸——的论点是危险的错误的。对于氨基酸来说,平衡就是一切。天冬氨酸和谷氨酸会促进癫痫发作,导致大脑损伤,并与应激导致的大脑衰老过程密切相关,而色氨酸本身就是致癌物质。像制药业那样把任何复杂的天然产物当作寻找“药物”产品时要分离的原料,是有风险的,因为在寻找一种化学物质和一种疾病之间的联系时,并不需要寻找相关的知识。
While the toxic unsaturated paint-stock oils, especially safflower, soy, corn and linseed (flaxseed) oils, have been sold to the public precisely for their drug effects, all of their claimed benefits were false. When people become interested in coconut oil as a “health food,” the huge seed-oil industry–operating through their shills–are going to attack it as an “unproved drug.” 虽然有毒的不饱和油漆原油,特别是红花油、大豆油、玉米油和亚麻籽油,正是因为它们的药物作用才向公众出售的,但它们声称的所有好处都是虚假的。当人们对椰子油作为一种“健康食品”产生兴趣时,庞大的籽油产业——通过他们的托儿运作——就会把它当作一种“未经证实的药物”来攻击它。
While components of coconut oil have been found to have remarkable physiological effects (as antihistamines, antiinfectives/antiseptics, promoters of immunity, glucocorticoid antagonist, nontoxic anticancer agents, for example), I think it is important to avoid making any such claims for the natural coconut oil, because it very easily could be banned from the import market as a “new drug” which isn't “approved by the FDA.” We have already seen how money and propaganda from the soy oil industry eliminated long-established products from the U.S. market. I saw people lose weight stably when they had the habit of eating large amounts of tortilla chips fried in coconut oil, but those chips disappeared when their producers were pressured into switching to other oils, in spite of the short shelf life that resulted in the need to add large amounts of preservatives. Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, potato chip producers, and movie theater popcorn makers have experienced similar pressures. 虽然椰子油的成分已经被发现有显著的生理作用(如抗组胺、抗感染/防腐剂、促进免疫、糖皮质激素拮抗剂、无毒抗癌剂等),但我认为避免对天然椰子油作任何此类声明是很重要的,因为它很容易被作为一种未经FDA批准的“新药”从进口市场上禁止。我们已经看到了豆油行业的金钱和宣传是如何从美国市场上淘汰老牌产品的。我看到人们减肥稳定当他们吃大量的玉米片的习惯在椰子油煎,但这些芯片消失当他们的生产商迫于压力切换到其他油,尽管保质期短,导致需要添加大量的防腐剂。奥利奥饼干、丽兹饼干、薯片生产商和电影院爆米花生产商也经历了类似的压力。
The cholesterol-lowering fiasco for a long time centered on the ability of unsaturated oils to slightly lower serum cholesterol. For years, the mechanism of that action wasn't known, which should have suggested caution. Now, it seems that the effect is just one more toxic action, in which the liver defensively retains its cholesterol, rather than releasing it into the blood. Large scale human studies have provided overwhelming evidence that whenever drugs, including the unsaturated oils, were used to lower serum cholesterol, mortality increased, from a variety of causes including accidents, but mainly from cancer. 长期以来,降低胆固醇的失败主要在于不饱和油略微降低血清胆固醇的能力。多年来,人们都不知道这种作用的机制,这应该提醒人们谨慎行事。现在看来,这种作用只是又一种毒性作用,肝脏防御性地保留胆固醇,而不是将其释放到血液中。大规模的人体研究提供了压倒性的证据,无论何时,只要使用药物(包括不饱和油)来降低血清胆固醇,死亡率就会上升,其原因包括事故,但主要是癌症。
Since the l930s, it has been clearly established that suppression of the thyroid raises serum cholesterol (while increasing mortality from infections, cancer, and heart disease), while restoring the thyroid hormone brings cholesterol down to normal. In this situation, however, thyroid isn't suppressing the synthesis of cholesterol, but rather is promoting its use to form hormones and bile salts. When the thyroid is functioning properly, the amount of cholesterol in the blood entering the ovary governs the amount of progesterone being produced by the ovary, and the same situation exists in all steroid-forming tissues, such as the adrenal glands and the brain. Progesterone and its precursor, pregnenolone, have a generalized protective function: antioxidant, anti-seizure, antitoxin, anti-spasm, anti-clot, anti-cancer, pro-memory, pro-myelination, pro-attention, etc. Any interference with the formation of cholesterol will interfere with all of these exceedingly important protective functions. 自20世纪30年代以来,人们已经清楚地认识到,抑制甲状腺会提高血清胆固醇(同时增加感染、癌症和心脏病的死亡率),而恢复甲状腺激素则会使胆固醇降至正常水平。然而,在这种情况下,甲状腺并没有抑制胆固醇的合成,而是促进胆固醇的合成,从而形成激素和胆盐。当甲状腺功能正常时,进入卵巢的血液中胆固醇的数量决定卵巢产生的孕酮的数量,所有类固醇形成组织,如肾上腺和大脑,都存在同样的情况。孕酮及其前体孕烯醇酮具有广泛的保护功能:抗氧化、抗癫痫、抗毒素、抗痉挛、抗凝血、抗癌、促进记忆、促进髓鞘形成、促进注意力等。任何对胆固醇形成的干扰都会干扰所有这些非常重要的保护功能。
As far as the evidence goes, it suggests that coconut oil, added regularly to a balanced diet, lowers cholesterol to normal by promoting its conversion into pregnenolone. (The coconut family contains steroids that resemble pregnenolone, but these are probably mostly removed when the fresh oil is washed with water to remove the enzymes which would digest the oil.) Coconut-eating cultures in the tropics have consistently lower cholesterol than people in the U.S. Everyone that I know who uses coconut oil regularly happens to have cholesterol levels of about 160, while eating mainly cholesterol rich foods (eggs, milk, cheese, meat, shellfish). I encourage people to eat sweet fruits, rather than starches, if they want to increase their production of cholesterol, since fructose has that effect. 就证据而言,它表明,在均衡饮食中定期添加椰子油,可以促进胆固醇转化为孕烯醇酮,从而降低胆固醇至正常水平。(椰子类含有类似孕烯醇酮的类固醇,但在新鲜椰子油被用水清洗以去除消化椰子油的酶时,这些类固醇可能大部分都被去除了。)我认识的经常食用椰子油的人,他们的胆固醇水平都在160左右,而他们主要吃胆固醇含量高的食物(鸡蛋、牛奶、奶酪、肉、贝类)。我鼓励人们吃甜水果,而不是淀粉,如果他们想增加胆固醇的产生,因为果糖有这种效果。
Many people see coconut oil in its hard, white state, and–as a result of their training watching television or going to medical school–associate it with the cholesterol-rich plaques in blood vessels. Those lesions in blood vessels are caused mostly by lipid peroxidation of unsaturated fats, and relate to stress, because adrenaline liberates fats from storage, and the lining of blood vessels is exposed to high concentrations of the blood-borne material. In the body, incidentally, the oil can't exist as a solid, since it liquefies at 76 degrees. (Incidentally, the viscosity of complex materials isn't a simple matter of averaging the viscosity of its component materials; cholesterol and saturated fats sometimes lower the viscosity of cell components.) 许多人一看到椰子油坚硬的白色状态,就会把它与血管中富含胆固醇的斑块联系在一起——因为他们是通过看电视或上医学院接受训练的。这些血管病变主要是由不饱和脂肪的脂质过氧化引起的,与压力有关,因为肾上腺素释放了储存的脂肪,而血管内壁暴露在高浓度的血源性物质中。顺便说一句,油在人体内不能以固体的形式存在,因为它在七十六度就会溶解。(顺便说一句,复杂材料的粘度并不是将其组成材料的粘度平均的简单问题;胆固醇和饱和脂肪有时会降低细胞成分的粘度。)
Most of the images and metaphors relating to coconut oil and cholesterol that circulate in our culture are false and misleading. I offer a counter-image, which is metaphorical, but it is true in that it relates to lipid peroxidation, which is profoundly important in our bodies. After a bottle of safflower oil has been opened a few times, a few drops that get smeared onto the outside of the bottle begin to get very sticky, and hard to wash off. This property is why it is a valued base for paints and varnishes, but this varnish is chemically closely related to the age pigment that forms “liver spots” on the skin, and similar lesions in the brain, heart, blood vessels, lenses of the eyes, etc. The image of “hard, white saturated coconut oil” isn't relevant to the oil's biological action, but the image of “sticky varnish-like easily oxidized unsaturated seed oils” is highly relevant to their toxicity. 在我们的文化中流传的关于椰子油和胆固醇的图像和隐喻大多是错误的和误导性的。我提供了一个反意象,这是一种隐喻,但它是真实的,因为它与脂质过氧化有关,而脂质过氧化在我们的身体中非常重要。在一瓶红花油被打开几次后,有几滴红花油涂抹在瓶子外面,开始变得非常粘稠,很难洗掉。这就是为什么它是油漆和清漆的重要基础,但这种清漆在化学上与皮肤上形成“肝斑”的年龄色素以及大脑、心脏、血管、眼睛晶状体等类似病变密切相关。“坚硬、白色饱和椰子油”的形象与椰子油的生物作用无关,但“粘性清漆状易氧化的不饱和籽油”的形象与它们的毒性高度相关。
The ability of some of the medium chain saturated fatty acids to inhibit the liver's formation of fat very likely synergizes with the pro-thyroid effect, in allowing energy to be used, rather than stored. When fat isn't formed from carbohydrate, the sugar is available for use, or for storage as glycogen. Therefore, shifting from unsaturated fats in foods to coconut oil involves several anti-stress processes, reducing our need for the adrenal hormones. Decreased blood sugar is a basic signal for the release of adrenal hormones. Unsaturated oil tends to lower the blood sugar in at least three basic ways. It damages mitochondria, causing respiration to be uncoupled from energy production, meaning that fuel is burned without useful effect. It suppresses the activity of the respiratory enzyme (directly, and through its anti-thyroid actions), decreasing the respiratory production of energy. And it tends to direct carbohydrate into fat production, making both stress and obesity more probable. For those of us who use coconut oil consistently, one of the most noticeable changes is the ability to go for several hours without eating, and to feel hungry without having symptoms of hypoglycemia. 某些中链饱和脂肪酸抑制肝脏脂肪形成的能力很可能与前甲状腺效应协同作用,允许能量被使用,而不是存储。当脂肪不是由碳水化合物形成时,糖可以作为糖原使用或储存。因此,从食物中的不饱和脂肪转换到椰子油涉及几个抗压力过程,减少我们对肾上腺激素的需求。血糖下降是肾上腺激素释放的基本信号。不饱和油倾向于在至少三个基本方面降低血糖。它会破坏线粒体,导致呼吸作用与能量产生分离,这意味着燃料的燃烧没有任何作用。它抑制呼吸酶的活性(直接地,通过它的抗甲状腺作用),减少呼吸产生的能量。它倾向于直接将碳水化合物转化为脂肪,使压力和肥胖都更有可能。对于我们这些经常使用椰子油的人来说,最明显的变化之一是能够连续几个小时不吃东西,感觉饥饿而没有低血糖的症状。
One of the stylish ways to promote the use of unsaturated oils is to refer to their presence in “cell membranes,” and to claim that they are essential for maintaining “membrane fluidity.” As I have mentioned above, it is the ability of the unsaturated fats, and their breakdown products, to interfere with enzymes and transport proteins, which accounts for many of their toxic effects, so they definitely don't just harmlessly form “membranes.” They probably bind to all proteins, and disrupt some of them, but for some reason their affinity for proteolytic and respiration-related enzymes is particularly obvious. (I think the chemistry of this association is going to give us some important insights into the nature of organisms. 提倡使用不饱和油的一种时髦方法是指出它们存在于“细胞膜”中,并声称它们对维持“膜流动性”至关重要。正如我上面提到的,正是不饱和脂肪及其分解产物干扰酶和转运蛋白的能力,造成了它们的许多毒性作用,所以它们肯定不会无害地形成“膜”。它们可能与所有蛋白质结合,并破坏其中一些,但由于某些原因,它们对蛋白水解酶和呼吸相关酶的亲和性特别明显。(我认为这种联系的化学性质将给我们提供一些关于生物体本质的重要见解。
Metchnikof's model that I have discussed elsewhere might give us a picture of how those factors relate in growth, physiology, and aging.) Unsaturated fats are slightly more water-soluble than fully saturated fats, and so they do have a greater tendency to concentrate at interfaces between water and fats or proteins, but there are relatively few places where these interfaces can be usefully and harmlessly occupied by unsaturated fats, and at a certain point, an excess becomes harmful. We don't want “membranes” forming where there shouldn't be membranes. The fluidity or viscosity of cell surfaces is an extremely complex subject, and the degree of viscosity has to be appropriate for the function of the cell. Interestingly, in some cells, such as the cells that line the air sacs of the lungs, cholesterol and one of the saturated fatty acids found in coconut oil can increase the fluidity of the cell surface. 我在其他地方讨论过的梅奇尼科夫模型可能会让我们看到这些因素在生长、生理和衰老方面是如何关联的。)不饱和脂肪水溶性略高于完全饱和脂肪,所以他们更倾向于集中在水和脂肪或蛋白质之间的接口,但也有相对较少的地方,这些接口可以有效地和无害的不饱和脂肪,在某种程度上,过量就有害了。我们不希望在不该有膜的地方形成膜。细胞表面的流动性或粘度是一个极其复杂的问题,粘度的程度必须与细胞的功能相适应。有趣的是,在一些细胞中,比如肺气囊的细胞中,胆固醇和椰子油中发现的一种饱和脂肪酸可以增加细胞表面的流动性。
In many cases, stressful conditions create structural disorder in cells. These influences have been called “chaotropic,” or chaos-producing. In red blood cells, which have sometimes been wrongly described as “hemoglobin enclosed in a cell membrane,” it has been known for a long time that lipid peroxidation of unsaturated fats weakens the cellular structure, causing the cells to be destroyed prematurely. Lipid peroxidation products are known to be “chaotropic,” lowering the rigidity of regions of cells considered to be membranes. But the red blood cell is actually more like a sponge in structure, consisting of a “skeleton” of proteins, which (if not damaged by oxidation) can hold its shape, even when the hemoglobin has been removed. Oxidants damage the protein structure, and it is this structural damage which in turn increases the “fluidity” of the associated fats. 在很多情况下,压力会导致细胞结构紊乱。这些影响被称为“高离液序列”,或“混乱产物”。在红细胞中,有时被错误地描述为“包裹在细胞膜中的血红蛋白”,很长一段时间以来人们都知道,不饱和脂肪的脂质过氧化作用削弱了细胞结构,导致细胞过早被破坏。脂质过氧化产物被认为是“朝性的”,降低被认为是细胞膜的细胞区域的硬度。但红细胞实际上在结构上更像海绵,由蛋白质的“骨架”组成,即使血红蛋白被去除,这些蛋白质(如果没有被氧化破坏的话)也能保持形状。氧化剂破坏蛋白质结构,而正是这种结构破坏反过来增加了相关脂肪的“流动性”。
So, it is probably true that in many cases the liquid unsaturated oils do increase “membrane fluidity,” but it is now clear that in at least some of those cases the “fluidity” corresponds to the chaos of a damaged cell protein structure. (N. V. Gorbunov, “Effect of structural modification of membrane proteins on lipid-protein interactions in the human erythrocyte membrane,” Bull. Exp. Biol. & Med. 116(11), 1364-67. 1993. 因此,在许多情况下,液体不饱和油确实增加了“膜流动性”,但现在很清楚的是,至少在某些情况下,“流动性”对应于受损细胞蛋白质结构的混乱。(N. V. Gorbunov,“膜蛋白结构修饰对人红细胞膜脂蛋白相互作用的影响”,Bull。实验医学杂志。地中海。116(11),1364 - 67。1993.
Although I had stopped using the unsaturated seed oils years ago, and supposed that I wasn't heavily saturated with toxic unsaturated fat, when I first used coconut oil I saw an immediate response, that convinced me my metabolism was chronically inhibited by something that was easily alleviated by “dilution” or molecular competition. I had put a tablespoonful of coconut oil on some rice I had for supper, and half an hour later while I was reading, I noticed I was breathing more deeply than normal. I saw that my skin was pink, and I found that my pulse was faster than normal–about 98, I think. After an hour or two, my pulse and breathing returned to normal. Every day for a couple of weeks I noticed the same response while I was digesting a small amount of coconut oil, but gradually it didn't happen any more, and I increased my daily consumption of the oil to about an ounce. I kept eating the same foods as before (including a quart of ice cream every day), except that I added about 200 or 250 calories per day as coconut oil. Apparently the metabolic surges that happened at first were an indication that my body was compensating for an anti-thyroid substance by producing more thyroid hormone; when the coconut oil relieved the inhibition, I experienced a moment of slight hyperthyroidism, but after a time the inhibitor became less effective, and my body adjusted by producing slightly less thyroid hormone. But over the next few months, I saw that my weight was slowly and consistently decreasing. It had been steady at 185 pounds for 25 years, but over a period of six months it dropped to about 175 pounds. I found that eating more coconut oil lowered my weight another few pounds, and eating less caused it to increase. 虽然我已经停止使用不饱和种籽油年前,我认为不严重饱和与有毒的不饱和脂肪,当我第一次使用椰子油我看到立即回应,让我相信我的新陈代谢是长期被一些容易被“稀释”或分子缓解竞争。我在晚饭吃的米饭上放了一汤匙椰子油,半小时后,当我在看书时,我注意到自己的呼吸比平时更深了。我发现我的皮肤是粉红色的,我发现我的脉搏比正常的快——大约98,我想。一两个小时后,我的脉搏和呼吸恢复了正常。在接下来的几个星期里,我每天都在消化少量的椰子油时,注意到同样的反应,但慢慢地,这种反应不再发生了,我把每天摄入的椰子油增加到大约一盎司。我继续吃和以前一样的食物(包括每天一夸脱的冰淇淋),除了我每天增加了大约200或250卡路里的椰子油。显然,刚开始的代谢激增表明,我的身体正在通过分泌更多的甲状腺激素来补偿抗甲状腺物质;当椰子油缓解了这种抑制时,我经历了一段时间的轻微甲状腺机能亢进,但一段时间后,抑制剂的效果变差了,我的身体通过分泌稍微减少的甲状腺激素进行了调整。但在接下来的几个月里,我发现我的体重在缓慢而持续地下降。25年来,它一直稳定在185磅,但在六个月的时间里,它下降到大约175磅。我发现,多吃椰子油会让我的体重再减轻几磅,少吃椰子油会让我的体重增加。
The anti-obesity effect of coconut oil is clear in all of the animal studies, and in my friends who eat it regularly. It is now hard to get it in health food stores, since Hain stopped selling it. The Spectrum product looks and feels a little different to me, and I suppose the particular type of tree, region, and method of preparation can account for variations in the consistency and composition of the product. The unmodified natural oil is called “76 degree melt,” since that is its natural melting temperature. One bottle from a health food store was labeled “natural coconut oil, 92% unsaturated oil,” and it had the greasy consistency of old lard. I suspect that someone had confused palm oil (or something worse) with coconut oil, because it should be about 96% saturated fatty acids. 椰子油的减肥效果在所有的动物研究中都很明显,我的朋友也经常吃椰子油。现在很难在健康食品商店买到它,因为海恩停止销售它。对我来说,Spectrum产品的外观和感觉有点不同,我认为特定类型的树、地区和制备方法可以解释产品的一致性和成分的变化。未经改性的天然油被称为“76度熔化”,因为这是它的自然熔化温度。健康食品店的一瓶贴有“天然椰子油,92%不饱和油”的标签,而且它有老猪油的稠度。我怀疑有人把棕榈油(或者更糟的东西)和椰子油搞混了,因为椰子油应该含有96%的饱和脂肪酸。
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/coconut-oil.shtml
Coconut Oil
椰子油
by Raymond Peat
I have already discussed the many toxic effects of the unsaturated oils, and I have frequently mentioned that coconut oil doesn't have those toxic effects, though it does contain a small amount of the unsaturated oils. Many people have asked me to write something on coconut oil. I thought I might write a small book on it, but I realize that there are no suitable channels for distributing such a book–if the seed-oil industry can eliminate major corporate food products that have used coconut oil for a hundred years, they certainly have the power to prevent dealers from selling a book that would affect their market more seriously. For the present, I will just outline some of the virtues of coconut oil.
我已经讨论过不饱和油的许多毒性作用,而且我经常提到椰子油没有这些毒性作用,尽管它确实含少量的不饱和油。很多人让我写一些关于椰子油的东西。我想我可以写一本关于椰子油的书,但我意识到没有合适的渠道来发行这样的书——如果籽油行业能够淘汰使用椰子油100年的主要企业食品,他们当然有权力阻止经销商销售那些会对他们的市场造成更严重影响的书。所以目前,我只能在这说说椰子油的一些优点。
The unsaturated oils in some cooked foods become rancid in just a few hours, even at refrigerator temperatures, and are responsible for the stale taste of left-over foods. (Eating slightly stale food isn't particularly harmful, since the same oils, even when eaten absolutely fresh, will oxidize at a much higher rate once they are in the body, where they are heated and thoroughly mixed with an abundance of oxygen.) Coconut oil that has been kept at room temperature for a year has been tested for rancidity, and showed no evidence of it. Since we would expect the small percentage of unsaturated oils naturally contained in coconut oil to become rancid, it seems that the other (saturated) oils have an antioxidative effect: I suspect that the dilution keeps the unstable unsaturated fat molecules spatially separated from each other, so they can't interact in the destructive chain reactions that occur in other oils. To interrupt chain-reactions of oxidation is one of the functions of antioxidants, and it is possible that a sufficient quantity of coconut oil in the body has this function. It is well established that dietary coconut oil reduces our need for vitamin E, but I think its antioxidant role is more general than that, and that it has both direct and indirect antioxidant activities.
一些熟食中的不饱和油即使在冰箱温度下,也会在几小时内腐臭,这是剩饭味道不新鲜的原因。(吃稍微变质的食物并不是特别有害,因为同样的油,即使是完全新鲜的油,一旦进入体内,被加热并与充足的氧气充分混合,氧化的速度会高得多。)在室温下存放一年的椰子油进行了酸味测试,没有显示出酸味。因为我们认为椰子油中天然含有的少量不饱和油会变质,所以其他(饱和)油似乎有抗氧化作用:我怀疑,稀释使不稳定的不饱和脂肪分子在空间上彼此分离,这样它们就不会发生发生在其他油中的破坏性连锁反应。中断氧化的连锁反应是抗氧化剂的功能之一,可能体内足够量的椰子油就有这种功能。众所周知,食用椰子油可以减少我们对维生素E的需求,但我认为它的抗氧化作用更广泛,它有直接和间接的抗氧化活性。
Coconut oil is unusually rich in short and medium chain fatty acids. Shorter chain length allows fatty acids to be metabolized without use of the carnitine transport system. Mildronate, which I discussed in an article on adaptogens, protects cells against stress partly by opposing the action of carnitine, and comparative studies showed that added carnitine had the opposite effect, promoting the oxidation of unsaturated fats during stress, and increasing oxidative damage to cells. I suspect that a degree of saturation of the oxidative apparatus by short-chain fatty acids has a similar effect–that is, that these very soluble and mobile short-chain saturated fats have priority for oxidation, because they don't require carnitine transport into the mitochondrion, and that this will tend to inhibit oxidation of the unstable, peroxidizable unsaturated fatty acids.
椰子油富含短链和中链脂肪酸。较短的链长允许脂肪酸在不使用肉碱运输系统的情况下进行代谢。我在一篇关于适应原的文章中讨论过的米膦酸盐,部分通过反对肉碱的作用来保护细胞免受压力,比较研究表明,添加肉碱具有相反的效果,促进应激时不饱和脂肪的氧化,增加细胞的氧化损伤。我猜想饱和度短链脂肪酸的氧化装置也有类似的效应——也就是说,这些可溶性和移动短链饱和脂肪氧化优先,因为他们不需要肉碱运输到线粒体,而这往往会抑制氧化的不稳定,过氧不饱和脂肪酸。
When Albert Schweitzer operated his clinic in tropical Africa, he said it was many years before he saw any cases of cancer, and he believed that the appearance of cancer was caused by the change to the European type of diet. In the l920s, German researchers showed that mice on a fat-free diet were practically free of cancer. Since then, many studies have demonstrated a very close association between consumption of unsaturated oils and the incidence of cancer.
当Albert Schweitzer在热带非洲经营他的诊所时,他说他在许多年以前才看到癌症的病例,他相信癌症的出现是由欧洲饮食类型的改变引起的。20世纪20年代,德国研究人员发现,吃无脂肪食物的老鼠几乎没有癌症。从那时起,许多研究表明,不饱和油的消费与癌症发病率之间有非常密切的联系。
Heart damage is easily produced in animals by feeding them linoleic acid; this “essential” fatty acid turned out to be the heart toxin in rape-seed oil. The addition of saturated fat to the experimental heart-toxic oil-rich diet protects against the damage to heart cells.
给动物喂食亚油酸很容易造成心脏损伤;这种“必需”脂肪酸被证明是菜籽油中的心脏毒素。在实验性的富含对心脏有害的油脂的饮食中加入饱和脂肪可以保护心脏细胞免受损害。
Immunosuppression was observed in patients who were being “nourished” by intravenous emulsions of “essential fatty acids,” and as a result coconut oil is used as the basis for intravenous fat feeding, except in organ-transplant patients. For those patients, emulsions of unsaturated oils are used specifically for their immunosuppressive effects.
在静脉注射必需脂肪酸乳剂“滋养”的患者中观察到免疫抑制,因此椰子油被用作静脉脂肪喂养的基础,器官移植患者除外。对于这些患者,不饱和油乳剂是专门用于其免疫抑制作用。
General aging, and especially aging of the brain, is increasingly seen as being closely associated with lipid peroxidation.
一般的衰老,特别是大脑的衰老,越来越被认为与脂质过氧化密切相关。
Several years ago I met an old couple, who were only a few years apart in age, but the wife looked many years younger than her doddering old husband. She was from the Philippines, and she remarked that she always had to cook two meals at the same time, because her husband couldn't adapt to her traditional food. Three times every day, she still prepared her food in coconut oil. Her apparent youth increased my interest in the effects of coconut oil.
几年前,我遇到一对老夫妇,他们的年龄只相差几年,但妻子看起来比她老态龙钟的丈夫年轻许多。她来自菲律宾,她说她总是必须同时做两顿饭,因为她的丈夫无法适应她的传统食物。每天三次,她仍然用椰子油做饭。她显然很年轻,这让我对椰子油的功效更感兴趣了。
In the l960s, Hartroft and Porta gave an elegant argument for decreasing the ratio of unsaturated oil to saturated oil in the diet (and thus in the tissues). They showed that the “age pigment” is produced in proportion to the ratio of oxidants to antioxidants, multiplied by the ratio of unsaturated oils to saturated oils. More recently, a variety of studies have demonstrated that ultraviolet light induces peroxidation in unsaturated fats, but not saturated fats, and that this occurs in the skin as well as in vitro. Rabbit experiments, and studies of humans, showed that the amount of unsaturated oil in the diet strongly affects the rate at which aged, wrinkled skin develops. The unsaturated fat in the skin is a major target for the aging and carcinogenic effects of ultraviolet light, though not necessarily the only one.
在20世纪60年代,Hartroft和Porta提出了一个关于降低饮食中(以及组织中)不饱和油与饱和油比例的优美论点。他们指出,“年龄色素”的产生与氧化剂和抗氧化剂的比例,乘以不饱和油和饱和油的比例成正比。最近,各种各样的研究表明紫外线会诱导不饱和脂肪,但不是饱和脂肪的过氧化作用,这在皮肤和体外都有发生。兔子实验和对人类的研究表明,饮食中不饱和油脂的含量对皮肤老化、起皱的速度有很大影响。皮肤中的不饱和脂肪是紫外线老化和致癌作用的主要目标,但不一定是唯一的目标。
In the l940s, farmers attempted to use cheap coconut oil for fattening their animals, but they found that it made them lean, active and hungry. For a few years, an antithyroid drug was found to make the livestock get fat while eating less food, but then it was found to be a strong carcinogen, and it also probably produced hypothyroidism in the people who ate the meat. By the late l940s, it was found that the same antithyroid effect, causing animals to get fat without eating much food, could be achieved by using soy beans and corn as feed.
bu在20世纪40年代,农民试图用廉价的椰子油来给他们的动物增肥,但他们发现它使动物变得瘦弱、活跃和饥饿。几年来,人们发现一种抗甲状腺药物能让牲畜在少吃食物的情况下变胖,但随后又发现它是一种强致癌物,而且它还可能让吃肉的人患上甲状腺功能减退。到20世纪40年代末,人们发现使用大豆和玉米作为饲料也能达到同样的抗甲状腺作用,使动物在不吃太多食物的情况下变胖。
Later, an animal experiment fed diets that were low or high in total fat, and in different groups the fat was provided by pure coconut oil, or a pure unsaturated oil, or by various mixtures of the two oils. At the end of their lives, the animals' obesity increased directly in proportion to the ratio of unsaturated oil to coconut oil in their diet, and was not related to the total amount of fat they had consumed. That is, animals which ate just a little pure unsaturated oil were fat, and animals which ate a lot of coconut oil were lean.
随后,动物实验饲喂总脂肪含量低或高的饲粮,不同组的脂肪由纯椰子油、纯不饱和油或两种油的各种混合物提供。在它们生命的最后阶段,动物的肥胖程度与它们饮食中不饱和油和椰子油的比例成正比,而与它们摄入的脂肪总量无关。也就是说,只吃少量纯不饱和油的动物是脂肪,而吃大量椰子油的动物是瘦肉。
In the l930s, animals on a diet lacking the unsaturated fatty acids were found to be “hypermetabolic.” Eating a “normal” diet, these animals were malnourished, and their skin condition was said to be caused by a “deficiency of essential fatty acids.” But other researchers who were studying vitamin B6 recognized the condition as a deficiency of that vitamin. They were able to cause the condition by feeding a fat-free diet, and to cure the condition by feeding a single B vitamin. The hypermetabolic animals simply needed a better diet than the “normal,” fat-fed, cancer-prone animals did.
在20世纪30年代,缺乏不饱和脂肪酸饮食的动物被发现是“代谢过度”。这些动物虽然饮食“正常”,但却营养不良,据说它们的皮肤状况是由“必需脂肪酸缺乏”引起的。但其他研究维生素B6的研究人员认为,这种情况是缺乏这种维生素。他们能够通过无脂饮食引起疾病,并通过单一的维生素B治疗疾病。高代谢动物只是需要比“正常”、脂肪喂养的、容易患癌症的动物更好的饮食。
G. W. Crile and his wife found that the metabolic rate of people in Yucatan, where coconut is a staple food, averaged 25% higher than that of people in the United States. In a hot climate, the adaptive tendency is to have a lower metabolic rate, so it is clear that some factor is more than offsetting this expected effect of high environmental temperatures. The people there are lean, and recently it has been observed that the women there have none of the symptoms we commonly associate with the menopause.
G. W. Crile和他的妻子发现,在以椰子为主食的尤卡坦半岛,人们的新陈代谢率平均比美国人高出25%。在炎热的气候中,适应的趋势是有较低的代谢率,因此很明显,某些因素超过了高环境温度的预期影响。那里的人都很瘦,最近观察发现那里的女性没有任何我们通常认为与更年期有关的症状。
By l950, then, it was established that unsaturated fats suppress the metabolic rate, apparently creating hypothyroidism. Over the next few decades, the exact mechanisms of that metabolic damage were studied. Unsaturated fats damage the mitochondria, partly by suppressing the repiratory enzyme, and partly by causing generalized oxidative damage. The more unsaturated the oils are, the more specifically they suppress tissue response to thyroid hormone, and transport of the hormone on the thyroid transport protein.
到1950年,不饱和脂肪会抑制代谢率,明显导致甲状腺功能减退。在接下来的几十年里,人们对代谢损伤的确切机制进行了研究。不饱和脂肪破坏线粒体,部分通过抑制呼吸酶,部分通过引起全面性氧化损伤。油的不饱和程度越高,就越能抑制组织对甲状腺激素的反应,以及激素对甲状腺转运蛋白的转运。
Plants evolved a variety of toxins designed to protect themselves from “predators,” such as grazing animals. Seeds contain a variety of toxins, that seem to be specific for mammalian enzymes, and the seed oils themselves function to block proteolytic digestive enzymes in the stomach. The thyroid hormone is formed in the gland by the action of a proteolytic enzyme, and the unsaturated oils also inhibit that enzyme. Similar proteolytic enzymes involved in clot removal and phagocytosis appear to be similarly inhibited by these oils.
植物进化出各种各样的毒素来保护自己免受“捕食者”的伤害,比如食草动物。种子含有各种各样的毒素,这些毒素似乎是哺乳动物的酶所特有的,而种子油本身的功能是阻止胃里的蛋白质水解消化酶。甲状腺激素是在蛋白质水解酶的作用下在腺体中形成的,不饱和油也抑制这种酶。类似的蛋白水解酶参与凝块去除和吞噬,似乎同样被这些油抑制。
Just as metabolism is “activated” by consumption of coconut oil, which prevents the inhibiting effect of unsaturated oils, other inhibited processes, such as clot removal and phagocytosis, will probably tend to be restored by continuing use of coconut oil.
正如代谢是通过食用椰子油来“激活”的,椰子油阻止了不饱和油的抑制作用,其他被抑制的过程,如凝块去除和吞噬作用,可能会通过持续使用椰子油来恢复。
Brain tissue is very rich in complex forms of fats. The experiment (around 1978) in which pregnant mice were given diets containing either coconut oil or unsaturated oil showed that brain development was superior in the young mice whose mothers ate coconut oil. Because coconut oil supports thyroid function, and thyroid governs brain development, including myelination, the result might simply reflect the difference between normal and hypothyroid individuals. However, in 1980, experimenters demonstrated that young rats fed milk containing soy oil incorporated the oil directly into their brain cells, and had structurally abnormal brain cells as a result.
脑组织富含复杂形式的脂肪。在1978年前后的一项实验中,给怀孕的老鼠喂食含有椰子油或不饱和油的食物,结果表明,母亲吃椰子油的幼鼠的大脑发育更好。因为椰子油支持甲状腺功能,而甲状腺控制着包括髓鞘形成在内的大脑发育,这一结果可能仅仅反映了正常和甲状腺功能低下个体之间的差异。然而,在1980年,实验人员证明,喂食含有豆油的牛奶的幼鼠,直接将豆油加入它们的脑细胞,结果导致脑细胞结构异常。
Lipid peroxidation occurs during seizures, and antioxidants such as vitamin E have some anti-seizure activity. Currently, lipid peroxidation is being found to be involved in the nerve cell degeneration of Alzheimer's disease.
在癫痫发作期间会发生脂质过氧化,维生素E等抗氧化剂具有一定的抗癫痫活性。目前,脂质过氧化被发现与阿尔茨海默病的神经细胞变性有关。
Various fractions of coconut oil are coming into use as “drugs,” meaning that they are advertised as treatments for diseases. Butyric acid is used to treat cancer, lauric and myristic acids to treat virus infections, and mixtures of medium-chain fats are sold for weight loss. Purification undoubtedly increases certain effects, and results in profitable products, but in the absence of more precise knowledge, I think the whole natural product, used as a regular food, is the best way to protect health. The shorter-chain fatty acids have strong, unpleasant odors; for a couple of days after I ate a small amount of a medium-chain triglyceride mixture, my skin oil emitted a rank, goaty smell. Some people don't seem to have that reaction, and the benefits might outweigh the stink, but these things just haven't been in use long enough to know whether they are safe.
椰子油的各种成分被用作“药物”,这意味着它们被宣传为治疗疾病的药物。丁酸用于治疗癌症,月桂酸和肉豆蔻酸用于治疗病毒感染,中链脂肪混合物用于减肥。净化无疑会增加一定的效果,产生有利可图的产品,但在缺乏更精确的知识的情况下,我认为纯天然的产品,作为常规食品,是最好的保护健康的方法。短链脂肪酸有强烈、难闻的气味;在我吃了少量中链甘油三酯混合物后的几天里,我的皮肤油散发出一种难闻的山羊味。有些人似乎没有这种反应,好处可能超过臭味,但这些东西使用的时间还不够长,不知道它们是否安全。
We have to remember that the arguments made for aspartame, monosodium glutamate, aspartic acid, and tryptophan–that they are like the amino acids that make up natural proteins–are dangerously false. In the case of amino acids, balance is everything. Aspartic and glutamic acids promote seizures and cause brain damage, and are intimately involved in the process of stress-induced brain aging, and tryptophan by itself is carcinogenic. Treating any complex natural product as the drug industry does, as a raw material to be fractionated in the search for “drug” products, is risky, because the relevant knowledge isn't sought in the search for an association between a single chemical and a single disease.
我们必须记住,关于阿斯巴甜、谷氨酸钠、天冬氨酸和色氨酸——它们就像组成天然蛋白质的氨基酸——的论点是危险的错误的。对于氨基酸来说,平衡就是一切。天冬氨酸和谷氨酸会促进癫痫发作,导致大脑损伤,并与应激导致的大脑衰老过程密切相关,而色氨酸本身就是致癌物质。像制药业那样把任何复杂的天然产物当作寻找“药物”产品时要分离的原料,是有风险的,因为在寻找一种化学物质和一种疾病之间的联系时,并不需要寻找相关的知识。
While the toxic unsaturated paint-stock oils, especially safflower, soy, corn and linseed (flaxseed) oils, have been sold to the public precisely for their drug effects, all of their claimed benefits were false. When people become interested in coconut oil as a “health food,” the huge seed-oil industry–operating through their shills–are going to attack it as an “unproved drug.”
虽然有毒的不饱和油漆原油,特别是红花油、大豆油、玉米油和亚麻籽油,正是因为它们的药物作用才向公众出售的,但它们声称的所有好处都是虚假的。当人们对椰子油作为一种“健康食品”产生兴趣时,庞大的籽油产业——通过他们的托儿运作——就会把它当作一种“未经证实的药物”来攻击它。
While components of coconut oil have been found to have remarkable physiological effects (as antihistamines, antiinfectives/antiseptics, promoters of immunity, glucocorticoid antagonist, nontoxic anticancer agents, for example), I think it is important to avoid making any such claims for the natural coconut oil, because it very easily could be banned from the import market as a “new drug” which isn't “approved by the FDA.” We have already seen how money and propaganda from the soy oil industry eliminated long-established products from the U.S. market. I saw people lose weight stably when they had the habit of eating large amounts of tortilla chips fried in coconut oil, but those chips disappeared when their producers were pressured into switching to other oils, in spite of the short shelf life that resulted in the need to add large amounts of preservatives. Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, potato chip producers, and movie theater popcorn makers have experienced similar pressures.
虽然椰子油的成分已经被发现有显著的生理作用(如抗组胺、抗感染/防腐剂、促进免疫、糖皮质激素拮抗剂、无毒抗癌剂等),但我认为避免对天然椰子油作任何此类声明是很重要的,因为它很容易被作为一种未经FDA批准的“新药”从进口市场上禁止。我们已经看到了豆油行业的金钱和宣传是如何从美国市场上淘汰老牌产品的。我看到人们减肥稳定当他们吃大量的玉米片的习惯在椰子油煎,但这些芯片消失当他们的生产商迫于压力切换到其他油,尽管保质期短,导致需要添加大量的防腐剂。奥利奥饼干、丽兹饼干、薯片生产商和电影院爆米花生产商也经历了类似的压力。
The cholesterol-lowering fiasco for a long time centered on the ability of unsaturated oils to slightly lower serum cholesterol. For years, the mechanism of that action wasn't known, which should have suggested caution. Now, it seems that the effect is just one more toxic action, in which the liver defensively retains its cholesterol, rather than releasing it into the blood. Large scale human studies have provided overwhelming evidence that whenever drugs, including the unsaturated oils, were used to lower serum cholesterol, mortality increased, from a variety of causes including accidents, but mainly from cancer.
长期以来,降低胆固醇的失败主要在于不饱和油略微降低血清胆固醇的能力。多年来,人们都不知道这种作用的机制,这应该提醒人们谨慎行事。现在看来,这种作用只是又一种毒性作用,肝脏防御性地保留胆固醇,而不是将其释放到血液中。大规模的人体研究提供了压倒性的证据,无论何时,只要使用药物(包括不饱和油)来降低血清胆固醇,死亡率就会上升,其原因包括事故,但主要是癌症。
Since the l930s, it has been clearly established that suppression of the thyroid raises serum cholesterol (while increasing mortality from infections, cancer, and heart disease), while restoring the thyroid hormone brings cholesterol down to normal. In this situation, however, thyroid isn't suppressing the synthesis of cholesterol, but rather is promoting its use to form hormones and bile salts. When the thyroid is functioning properly, the amount of cholesterol in the blood entering the ovary governs the amount of progesterone being produced by the ovary, and the same situation exists in all steroid-forming tissues, such as the adrenal glands and the brain. Progesterone and its precursor, pregnenolone, have a generalized protective function: antioxidant, anti-seizure, antitoxin, anti-spasm, anti-clot, anti-cancer, pro-memory, pro-myelination, pro-attention, etc. Any interference with the formation of cholesterol will interfere with all of these exceedingly important protective functions.
自20世纪30年代以来,人们已经清楚地认识到,抑制甲状腺会提高血清胆固醇(同时增加感染、癌症和心脏病的死亡率),而恢复甲状腺激素则会使胆固醇降至正常水平。然而,在这种情况下,甲状腺并没有抑制胆固醇的合成,而是促进胆固醇的合成,从而形成激素和胆盐。当甲状腺功能正常时,进入卵巢的血液中胆固醇的数量决定卵巢产生的孕酮的数量,所有类固醇形成组织,如肾上腺和大脑,都存在同样的情况。孕酮及其前体孕烯醇酮具有广泛的保护功能:抗氧化、抗癫痫、抗毒素、抗痉挛、抗凝血、抗癌、促进记忆、促进髓鞘形成、促进注意力等。任何对胆固醇形成的干扰都会干扰所有这些非常重要的保护功能。
As far as the evidence goes, it suggests that coconut oil, added regularly to a balanced diet, lowers cholesterol to normal by promoting its conversion into pregnenolone. (The coconut family contains steroids that resemble pregnenolone, but these are probably mostly removed when the fresh oil is washed with water to remove the enzymes which would digest the oil.) Coconut-eating cultures in the tropics have consistently lower cholesterol than people in the U.S. Everyone that I know who uses coconut oil regularly happens to have cholesterol levels of about 160, while eating mainly cholesterol rich foods (eggs, milk, cheese, meat, shellfish). I encourage people to eat sweet fruits, rather than starches, if they want to increase their production of cholesterol, since fructose has that effect.
就证据而言,它表明,在均衡饮食中定期添加椰子油,可以促进胆固醇转化为孕烯醇酮,从而降低胆固醇至正常水平。(椰子类含有类似孕烯醇酮的类固醇,但在新鲜椰子油被用水清洗以去除消化椰子油的酶时,这些类固醇可能大部分都被去除了。)我认识的经常食用椰子油的人,他们的胆固醇水平都在160左右,而他们主要吃胆固醇含量高的食物(鸡蛋、牛奶、奶酪、肉、贝类)。我鼓励人们吃甜水果,而不是淀粉,如果他们想增加胆固醇的产生,因为果糖有这种效果。
Many people see coconut oil in its hard, white state, and–as a result of their training watching television or going to medical school–associate it with the cholesterol-rich plaques in blood vessels. Those lesions in blood vessels are caused mostly by lipid peroxidation of unsaturated fats, and relate to stress, because adrenaline liberates fats from storage, and the lining of blood vessels is exposed to high concentrations of the blood-borne material. In the body, incidentally, the oil can't exist as a solid, since it liquefies at 76 degrees. (Incidentally, the viscosity of complex materials isn't a simple matter of averaging the viscosity of its component materials; cholesterol and saturated fats sometimes lower the viscosity of cell components.)
许多人一看到椰子油坚硬的白色状态,就会把它与血管中富含胆固醇的斑块联系在一起——因为他们是通过看电视或上医学院接受训练的。这些血管病变主要是由不饱和脂肪的脂质过氧化引起的,与压力有关,因为肾上腺素释放了储存的脂肪,而血管内壁暴露在高浓度的血源性物质中。顺便说一句,油在人体内不能以固体的形式存在,因为它在七十六度就会溶解。(顺便说一句,复杂材料的粘度并不是将其组成材料的粘度平均的简单问题;胆固醇和饱和脂肪有时会降低细胞成分的粘度。)
Most of the images and metaphors relating to coconut oil and cholesterol that circulate in our culture are false and misleading. I offer a counter-image, which is metaphorical, but it is true in that it relates to lipid peroxidation, which is profoundly important in our bodies. After a bottle of safflower oil has been opened a few times, a few drops that get smeared onto the outside of the bottle begin to get very sticky, and hard to wash off. This property is why it is a valued base for paints and varnishes, but this varnish is chemically closely related to the age pigment that forms “liver spots” on the skin, and similar lesions in the brain, heart, blood vessels, lenses of the eyes, etc. The image of “hard, white saturated coconut oil” isn't relevant to the oil's biological action, but the image of “sticky varnish-like easily oxidized unsaturated seed oils” is highly relevant to their toxicity.
在我们的文化中流传的关于椰子油和胆固醇的图像和隐喻大多是错误的和误导性的。我提供了一个反意象,这是一种隐喻,但它是真实的,因为它与脂质过氧化有关,而脂质过氧化在我们的身体中非常重要。在一瓶红花油被打开几次后,有几滴红花油涂抹在瓶子外面,开始变得非常粘稠,很难洗掉。这就是为什么它是油漆和清漆的重要基础,但这种清漆在化学上与皮肤上形成“肝斑”的年龄色素以及大脑、心脏、血管、眼睛晶状体等类似病变密切相关。“坚硬、白色饱和椰子油”的形象与椰子油的生物作用无关,但“粘性清漆状易氧化的不饱和籽油”的形象与它们的毒性高度相关。
The ability of some of the medium chain saturated fatty acids to inhibit the liver's formation of fat very likely synergizes with the pro-thyroid effect, in allowing energy to be used, rather than stored. When fat isn't formed from carbohydrate, the sugar is available for use, or for storage as glycogen. Therefore, shifting from unsaturated fats in foods to coconut oil involves several anti-stress processes, reducing our need for the adrenal hormones. Decreased blood sugar is a basic signal for the release of adrenal hormones. Unsaturated oil tends to lower the blood sugar in at least three basic ways. It damages mitochondria, causing respiration to be uncoupled from energy production, meaning that fuel is burned without useful effect. It suppresses the activity of the respiratory enzyme (directly, and through its anti-thyroid actions), decreasing the respiratory production of energy. And it tends to direct carbohydrate into fat production, making both stress and obesity more probable. For those of us who use coconut oil consistently, one of the most noticeable changes is the ability to go for several hours without eating, and to feel hungry without having symptoms of hypoglycemia.
某些中链饱和脂肪酸抑制肝脏脂肪形成的能力很可能与前甲状腺效应协同作用,允许能量被使用,而不是存储。当脂肪不是由碳水化合物形成时,糖可以作为糖原使用或储存。因此,从食物中的不饱和脂肪转换到椰子油涉及几个抗压力过程,减少我们对肾上腺激素的需求。血糖下降是肾上腺激素释放的基本信号。不饱和油倾向于在至少三个基本方面降低血糖。它会破坏线粒体,导致呼吸作用与能量产生分离,这意味着燃料的燃烧没有任何作用。它抑制呼吸酶的活性(直接地,通过它的抗甲状腺作用),减少呼吸产生的能量。它倾向于直接将碳水化合物转化为脂肪,使压力和肥胖都更有可能。对于我们这些经常使用椰子油的人来说,最明显的变化之一是能够连续几个小时不吃东西,感觉饥饿而没有低血糖的症状。
One of the stylish ways to promote the use of unsaturated oils is to refer to their presence in “cell membranes,” and to claim that they are essential for maintaining “membrane fluidity.” As I have mentioned above, it is the ability of the unsaturated fats, and their breakdown products, to interfere with enzymes and transport proteins, which accounts for many of their toxic effects, so they definitely don't just harmlessly form “membranes.” They probably bind to all proteins, and disrupt some of them, but for some reason their affinity for proteolytic and respiration-related enzymes is particularly obvious. (I think the chemistry of this association is going to give us some important insights into the nature of organisms.
提倡使用不饱和油的一种时髦方法是指出它们存在于“细胞膜”中,并声称它们对维持“膜流动性”至关重要。正如我上面提到的,正是不饱和脂肪及其分解产物干扰酶和转运蛋白的能力,造成了它们的许多毒性作用,所以它们肯定不会无害地形成“膜”。它们可能与所有蛋白质结合,并破坏其中一些,但由于某些原因,它们对蛋白水解酶和呼吸相关酶的亲和性特别明显。(我认为这种联系的化学性质将给我们提供一些关于生物体本质的重要见解。
Metchnikof's model that I have discussed elsewhere might give us a picture of how those factors relate in growth, physiology, and aging.) Unsaturated fats are slightly more water-soluble than fully saturated fats, and so they do have a greater tendency to concentrate at interfaces between water and fats or proteins, but there are relatively few places where these interfaces can be usefully and harmlessly occupied by unsaturated fats, and at a certain point, an excess becomes harmful. We don't want “membranes” forming where there shouldn't be membranes. The fluidity or viscosity of cell surfaces is an extremely complex subject, and the degree of viscosity has to be appropriate for the function of the cell. Interestingly, in some cells, such as the cells that line the air sacs of the lungs, cholesterol and one of the saturated fatty acids found in coconut oil can increase the fluidity of the cell surface.
我在其他地方讨论过的梅奇尼科夫模型可能会让我们看到这些因素在生长、生理和衰老方面是如何关联的。)不饱和脂肪水溶性略高于完全饱和脂肪,所以他们更倾向于集中在水和脂肪或蛋白质之间的接口,但也有相对较少的地方,这些接口可以有效地和无害的不饱和脂肪,在某种程度上,过量就有害了。我们不希望在不该有膜的地方形成膜。细胞表面的流动性或粘度是一个极其复杂的问题,粘度的程度必须与细胞的功能相适应。有趣的是,在一些细胞中,比如肺气囊的细胞中,胆固醇和椰子油中发现的一种饱和脂肪酸可以增加细胞表面的流动性。
In many cases, stressful conditions create structural disorder in cells. These influences have been called “chaotropic,” or chaos-producing. In red blood cells, which have sometimes been wrongly described as “hemoglobin enclosed in a cell membrane,” it has been known for a long time that lipid peroxidation of unsaturated fats weakens the cellular structure, causing the cells to be destroyed prematurely. Lipid peroxidation products are known to be “chaotropic,” lowering the rigidity of regions of cells considered to be membranes. But the red blood cell is actually more like a sponge in structure, consisting of a “skeleton” of proteins, which (if not damaged by oxidation) can hold its shape, even when the hemoglobin has been removed. Oxidants damage the protein structure, and it is this structural damage which in turn increases the “fluidity” of the associated fats.
在很多情况下,压力会导致细胞结构紊乱。这些影响被称为“高离液序列”,或“混乱产物”。在红细胞中,有时被错误地描述为“包裹在细胞膜中的血红蛋白”,很长一段时间以来人们都知道,不饱和脂肪的脂质过氧化作用削弱了细胞结构,导致细胞过早被破坏。脂质过氧化产物被认为是“朝性的”,降低被认为是细胞膜的细胞区域的硬度。但红细胞实际上在结构上更像海绵,由蛋白质的“骨架”组成,即使血红蛋白被去除,这些蛋白质(如果没有被氧化破坏的话)也能保持形状。氧化剂破坏蛋白质结构,而正是这种结构破坏反过来增加了相关脂肪的“流动性”。
So, it is probably true that in many cases the liquid unsaturated oils do increase “membrane fluidity,” but it is now clear that in at least some of those cases the “fluidity” corresponds to the chaos of a damaged cell protein structure. (N. V. Gorbunov, “Effect of structural modification of membrane proteins on lipid-protein interactions in the human erythrocyte membrane,” Bull. Exp. Biol. & Med. 116(11), 1364-67. 1993.
因此,在许多情况下,液体不饱和油确实增加了“膜流动性”,但现在很清楚的是,至少在某些情况下,“流动性”对应于受损细胞蛋白质结构的混乱。(N. V. Gorbunov,“膜蛋白结构修饰对人红细胞膜脂蛋白相互作用的影响”,Bull。实验医学杂志。地中海。116(11),1364 - 67。1993.
Although I had stopped using the unsaturated seed oils years ago, and supposed that I wasn't heavily saturated with toxic unsaturated fat, when I first used coconut oil I saw an immediate response, that convinced me my metabolism was chronically inhibited by something that was easily alleviated by “dilution” or molecular competition. I had put a tablespoonful of coconut oil on some rice I had for supper, and half an hour later while I was reading, I noticed I was breathing more deeply than normal. I saw that my skin was pink, and I found that my pulse was faster than normal–about 98, I think. After an hour or two, my pulse and breathing returned to normal. Every day for a couple of weeks I noticed the same response while I was digesting a small amount of coconut oil, but gradually it didn't happen any more, and I increased my daily consumption of the oil to about an ounce. I kept eating the same foods as before (including a quart of ice cream every day), except that I added about 200 or 250 calories per day as coconut oil. Apparently the metabolic surges that happened at first were an indication that my body was compensating for an anti-thyroid substance by producing more thyroid hormone; when the coconut oil relieved the inhibition, I experienced a moment of slight hyperthyroidism, but after a time the inhibitor became less effective, and my body adjusted by producing slightly less thyroid hormone. But over the next few months, I saw that my weight was slowly and consistently decreasing. It had been steady at 185 pounds for 25 years, but over a period of six months it dropped to about 175 pounds. I found that eating more coconut oil lowered my weight another few pounds, and eating less caused it to increase.
虽然我已经停止使用不饱和种籽油年前,我认为不严重饱和与有毒的不饱和脂肪,当我第一次使用椰子油我看到立即回应,让我相信我的新陈代谢是长期被一些容易被“稀释”或分子缓解竞争。我在晚饭吃的米饭上放了一汤匙椰子油,半小时后,当我在看书时,我注意到自己的呼吸比平时更深了。我发现我的皮肤是粉红色的,我发现我的脉搏比正常的快——大约98,我想。一两个小时后,我的脉搏和呼吸恢复了正常。在接下来的几个星期里,我每天都在消化少量的椰子油时,注意到同样的反应,但慢慢地,这种反应不再发生了,我把每天摄入的椰子油增加到大约一盎司。我继续吃和以前一样的食物(包括每天一夸脱的冰淇淋),除了我每天增加了大约200或250卡路里的椰子油。显然,刚开始的代谢激增表明,我的身体正在通过分泌更多的甲状腺激素来补偿抗甲状腺物质;当椰子油缓解了这种抑制时,我经历了一段时间的轻微甲状腺机能亢进,但一段时间后,抑制剂的效果变差了,我的身体通过分泌稍微减少的甲状腺激素进行了调整。但在接下来的几个月里,我发现我的体重在缓慢而持续地下降。25年来,它一直稳定在185磅,但在六个月的时间里,它下降到大约175磅。我发现,多吃椰子油会让我的体重再减轻几磅,少吃椰子油会让我的体重增加。
The anti-obesity effect of coconut oil is clear in all of the animal studies, and in my friends who eat it regularly. It is now hard to get it in health food stores, since Hain stopped selling it. The Spectrum product looks and feels a little different to me, and I suppose the particular type of tree, region, and method of preparation can account for variations in the consistency and composition of the product. The unmodified natural oil is called “76 degree melt,” since that is its natural melting temperature. One bottle from a health food store was labeled “natural coconut oil, 92% unsaturated oil,” and it had the greasy consistency of old lard. I suspect that someone had confused palm oil (or something worse) with coconut oil, because it should be about 96% saturated fatty acids.
椰子油的减肥效果在所有的动物研究中都很明显,我的朋友也经常吃椰子油。现在很难在健康食品商店买到它,因为海恩停止销售它。对我来说,Spectrum产品的外观和感觉有点不同,我认为特定类型的树、地区和制备方法可以解释产品的一致性和成分的变化。未经改性的天然油被称为“76度熔化”,因为这是它的自然熔化温度。健康食品店的一瓶贴有“天然椰子油,92%不饱和油”的标签,而且它有老猪油的稠度。我怀疑有人把棕榈油(或者更糟的东西)和椰子油搞混了,因为椰子油应该含有96%的饱和脂肪酸。