If the last time you ate coconut was in a fun-size Mounds bar pulled from a trick-or-treat bowl, it’s time to revisit the fruit.
As with avocados, the knock on coconuts was a high fat and calorie profile. Now we know that those are assets. “Coconut is a source of plant-based fat, and fat can promote satiety,” says Katherine Patton, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition.
And the meat contains MCT oil, or medium-chain triglycerides. That’s the extract that people put in smoothies and coffee. MCT oil has unique benefits. It seems to lower two key hunger hormones, cueing a person to eat less, a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests. And MCTs convert more easily into energy compared with other sources…
