Once vilified for its abundant fat content, coconut oil is being trumpeted as a miracle elixir. As a health fad, it's dual purpose, bandied about as a head-to-toe natural beauty product and as a food that can cure what ails you.
Coconut oil's health connection reaches back a few thousand years to a system of natural healing with origins in India. Modern science has documented its effectiveness as a moisturizer, but evidence to support its dietary health benefits is largely anecdotal.
"As a society, we tend to be people who like that quick Band-Aid approach, but there is no magic bullet. The science is still gray," says Vandana Sheth, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. "Coconut oil is just the latest product out there."
In other words, believer beware.
From: snip.ly
