Why coconut oil in your coffee may be harmful to your health

By Lauren Wilkin

A dietitian has warned influencers that putting coconut oil in their coffee is not as healthy as they might think.

The viral craze sees health influencers adding a spoonful of coconut oil to their morning coffee, claiming it increases metabolism, good cholesterol, and energy.

But Alexander Leritz, a registered dietitian, says people should be "apprehensive" about the dramatic health claims influencers are making about coconut oil.

"While coconut oil functions as a dietary fat and can absolutely be a part of a balanced and healthy diet, I would still be apprehensive about some of the more dramatic health claims surrounding its use," he said.

"The main nutritional consideration for daily use of coconut oil is the saturated fat content," explains Alexander, who is now the registered dietitian at JM Nutrition.

"In fact, roughly 80% of the fats in coconut oil are saturated fat which makes coconut oil very different from olive or avocado oil counterparts."

And that's not the only health concern Alexander has about the trend.

He says: "One other consideration is that coconut oil is very energy-dense with 1 tablespoon providing roughly 120 calories and 11-12 grams of saturated fat.

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"This in itself does not make coconut oil "unhealthy" per se, but it is relevant if someone is keeping an eye on their daily caloric intake for weight management purposes."

And Alexander notes that considering how saturated fats impact our heart health is important, before trying new trends.

"There is some evidence that coconut oil can increase our HDL or "good" cholesterol, however, it also tends to raise LDL or "bad" cholesterol when compared to other oils higher in unsaturated heart-healthy fats.

"Therefore, I would not be hasty in recommending consuming coconut oil for cardiovascular health benefits."

Instead, the dietitian says we should think of coconut oil as more of a cooking ingredient or something to add some extra flavor to a dish, rather than a nutrition need or supplement.

"That being said, the World Health Organization (WHO) does recommend keeping daily saturated fat intake to less than 10% of our total daily energy needs.

"For context, for someone who is eating around 2,000 calories per day, that would mean less than 22 grams of saturated fat per day.

"Keeping in mind that 1 tablespoon of coconut oil provides around 11-12 grams of saturated fat, frequent use of coconut oil in the diet could easily push someone over the WHO guidelines."

Because of this, Alexander says that while there is nothing inherently wrong with putting coconut oil in coffee if someone really enjoys it, he still wouldn't recommend doing it for health benefits.

"Someone doesn't have to avoid coconut oil entirely, but neither should someone deliberately add it to the diet for better health."