Is Coconut Oil Really Helpful as a Topical Antibacterial Agent?

Discussion Coconut oil along with many other plant oils are used by humans for many reasons. It is often used as a food ingredient either as an ingredient or in food preparation such as frying. It is also used topically and applied to skin, hair or nails to provide protection or help improve their condition. Some people use it for hygiene such as rinsing their mouths while others ingest it like a medication as they feel it improves various acute or chronic diseases. There are relatively few scientific studies of coconut oil use in children or even adults. A PubMed search on 11/23/15 of coconut oil in human children with ages birth to 18 years found only 57 articles from 1973-2015. On the same day the American Academy of Pediatrics website (aap.org) was searched and found coconut oil being used as part of a healthy diet. Similarly, the Cochrane Collaboration (cochrane.org) and the National Guideline Clearinghouse (http://www.guidelines.gov) returned no results about coconut oil when searched. The National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine (https://nccih.nih.gov) also does not list coconut oil as one of its health topics. The Federal Drug Administration (fda.org) regards coconut oil as GRAS or generally recognized as safe and specifically states that “[n]one of the available biological information indicates that these substances are hazardous to man or animals even when consumed at levels that are orders of magnitude greater ...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news