http://www.reciprocalnet.org/recipnet/showsample.jsp?sampleId=27343984 Lauric acid is found in vegetable oils such as cinnamon oil, butter, coconut oil, and palm oil.
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Explanation: Lauric acid was first discovered in lauraceae seeds by Marsson T in 1849. The highest content of lauric acid is found in a mother's breast milk and lauraceae seeds. It is used in foods such as vegetable shortenings as a defoaming agent and industrially as a booster for soaps and detergents. Also it is used in cosmetics, insecticides, and food additives. Additionally, Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which forms monolaurin in the human or animal body. This compound is an antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride that destroys lipid coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, and influenza.
------------------------------------ http://www.lauric.org/
March 5, 2001, lauric.org - The first clinical trial giving monolaurin in capsules at two levels (7.2 g (HML) and 2.4 g (LML)) or whole coconut oil (50 ml (CNO)) as a source of lauric acid (the precursor of monolaurin) to 15 HIV-infected patients took place in the San Lazaro Hospital, Manila, the Philippines under the charge of Dr. Eric Tayag, MD. The results of the trial were reported by Dr. Conrado S. Dayrit, MD, FACC, FPCC, FPCP on July 25, 2000 in Chennai, India at the 37th Cocotech Meeting. The patients, 10 females and 5 males, who were regularly being followed for their HIV status at the San Lazaro Hospital and had never received any anti-HIV treatment were divided into 3 treatment groups (HML, LML, CNO) of 5 patients each. The patients were seen daily with laboratory values determined at the beginning and the end of 3 months and 6 months. At onset of the trial, the viral load of the patients as measured by PCR, ranged from 1.96x103 to 1,190.0x103 copies. The CD4 and CD8 counts were measured by flow cytometry and at baseline they ranged from a low to a high, respectively, of 248 to 1065 and 570 to 1671. One male had a viral count too low to measure (< 0.4x103), which did not change, and he was not included in the final statistics. The final statistics included results for 4 males and 10 females and showed that 7 (2M, 5F) of 14 patients had a reduced load at 3 months and 8 (3M, 5F) of 14 patients had a reduced load at 6 months. The reduced viral load was significant in only 3 (2M,1F) patients using the log baseline minus log 6 months 0.5 criterion; 2 of the 3 were in the CNO group and one was in the LML group. The CD4 and CD8 levels increased in 5 patients but did not correlate exactly with a decrease in viral load. As a result of the encouraging responses in this small preliminary proof-of-concept trial, additional HIV-infected patients are being enrolled for a second larger and longer trial.
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(Comments: old study, small sample, but what I though was interesting was that the oil seemed to be more effective than the derivative.)
----------------------------------------------- http://www.catie.ca/supple-e.nsf/0/9d416a2009131fd88525689e006c3f81?OpenDocument
Winter 2000
Monolaurin is a form of the fatty acid called lauric acid. It is found in human and coconut milk. In lab experiments, monolaurin has caused damage to a range of viruses, including HIV, herpes viruses and the bacteria that cause chlamydia and gonorrhea.
What do HIV-positive people use this supplement for?
To prevent and fight herpes outbreaks.
Results from lab experiments suggest that monolaurin damages the herpes simplex virus, the virus that causes herpes sores. In those same experiments, monolaurin also attacked cytomegalovirus -- a virus belonging to the herpes family commonly known as CMV -- and to a lesser extent, HIV. These observations suggest that monolaurin may be most useful at suppressing outbreaks of herpes. To this end, most people take monolaurin in the form of capsules.
To fight HIV?
Some people obtain high levels of lauric acid by eating coconut milk or cream. Anecdotal reports from the United States suggest that taking the equivalent of three to four tablespoons of coconut oil daily significantly reduces viral load. On the other hand, anecdotal reports from Canada suggest that when taken daily for two years, coconut milk had no impact on CD4+ cell decline or the appearance of AIDS-related infections.
To help speed recovery from bacterial infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Monolaurin has been shown to have anti-chlamydia and anti-gonorrhea effects in laboratory experiments involving cells. However, the effect of monolaurin in humans with these bacterial infections has not been documented in published studies.
Available forms and usage
Monolaurin is supplied in 300 milligram capsules and is sold in health food stores. According to anecdotal reports, people who use monolaurin generally take between three and four capsules daily. Lauric acid can also be obtained by drinking coconut milk or by adding coconut milk or cream to liquid supplements, soups and other dishes.
Cautions and concerns
The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes monolaurin as safe enough to use as a food additive. Some people taking monolaurin have experienced drowsiness so users may prefer to take the capsules at bedtime. Finally, since we are unable to find reports of controlled studies using monolaurin, we can't be certain that monolaurin provides any clinical benefit.
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Enig also stated: ``The problems for coconut oil started four decades ago when researchers fed animals hydrogenated coconut oil that was purposely altered to make it completely devoid of any essential fatty acids...The animals fed the hydrogenated coconut oil (as the only fat source) naturally became essential fatty acid deficient; their serum cholesterol increased. Diets that cause an essential fatty acid deficiency always produce an increase in serum cholesterol levels as well as in increase in the atherosclerotic indices. The same effect has also been seen when other ...highly hydrogenated oils such as cottonseed, soybean or corn oils have been fed; so it is clearly a function of the hydrogenated products, either because the oil is essential fatty acid (EFA) deficient or because of trans fatty acids.''
What about studies where animals were fed unprocessed coconut oil? Enig wrote: ``Hostmark et al (1980) compared the effects of diets containing 10% coconut oil and 10% sunflower oil on lipoprotein distribution in male Wistar rats. Coconut oil feeding produced significantly lower levels (p=0.05) of pre-beta lipoproteins (VLDL) and significantly higher (p=<0.01) alpha-lipoproteins (HDL) relative to sunflower feeding.'' (Editor's note: HDLs are considered the good cholesterol as they prevent deposits of LDL cholesterol on artery walls.) She also cited a study by Awad (1981) on Wistar rats fed a diet of either 14% (natural) coconut oil or 14% safflower oil. She stated:``Total tissue cholesterol accumulation for animals on the safflower diet was six times greater than for animals fed the [unhydrogenated] coconut oil..A conclusion that can be drawn from some of the animal research is that feeding hydrogenated coconut oil devoid of essential fatty acids(EFA)...potentiates the formation of atherosclerosis markers. It is of note that animals fed regular coconut oil have less cholesterol deposited in their livers and other parts of their bodies.'' Enig also referred to epidemiological studies done by Kaunitz and Dayrit (1992) on coconut eating societies who found that ``available population studies show that dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum cholesterol nor to high coronary heart disease..'' It is noteworthy that hydrogenated coconut oil was not consumed by these coconut eating societies; they only consumed natural coconut oil.
Kaunitz and Dayrit noted in 1989 that Mendis et al reported when Sri Lankan males were changed from their normal diet of natural coconut oil to corn oil, their LDL cholesterol declined 23.8% which is good news, but their HDL cholesterol declined 41.4% which is bad news. This created a more unfavorable LDL/HDL ratio meaning that on the corn oil diet there would be more cholesterol depositing on the artery walls than on the coconut oil diet. In plain English, a diet using liquid corn oil will lead to cholesterol deposits faster than a diet using natural coconut oil. Natural coconut oil, by increasing the good HDL cholesterol, may help prevent atherosclerosis and heart disease. Enig cited several other studies in her article that showed that natural coconut oil (not hydrogenated coconut oil) had health benefits markers indicating that coconut oil was more beneficial in preventing heart disease than most vegetable oils. Enig also cited the research of Tholstrup et al (1994) on natural (NOT hydrogenated) palm kernel oil which is high in lauric acid and also contains myristic acid. Tholstrup found that with palm kernel oil, ``HDL cholesterol levels increased significantly from baseline values.''
Enig reported in her article that the effects of coconut oil on persons with low cholesterol levels was the opposite of persons with high cholesterol levels. Of persons with low total cholesterol counts, she wrote that ``there may be a rising of serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and especially HDL cholesterol.'' In persons with high cholesterol levels, ``there is lowering of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.'' The studies she cited showed that in both groups the LDL/HDL ratio moved in a favorable direction. In persons with AIDS or immune-compromised from other causes, the conclusions of this research are profound. It means everything the public has been told about vegetable oils on television for the past 15 years has been half truths and leading the public to the wrong conclusions. The public has been led to believe that tropicals will clog your arteries and cause heart disease. In fact, the opposite is true; natural tropical oils will help prevent hardening of the arteries while most liquid vegetable oils will increase hardening of the arteries! In a phone call to Mary Enig in April, 1997, she told me that the worst oil to use for any purpose is Canola oil. When used in cooking, it produces the very high levels of trans fatty acids.
MARY ENIG Ph.D. ON NATURAL COCONUT OIL FOR AIDS and OTHER VIRAL INFECTIONS
On July 19, 1995, Enig was quoted in an article published in The HINDU, India's National Newspaper as stating that coconut oil is converted by the body into ``Monolaurin'' a fatty acid with anti-viral properties that might be useful in the treatment of AIDS. The staff reporter for The HINDU wrote about Enig's presentation at a press conference in Kochi and wrote the following:
``There was an instance in the US in which an infant tested HIV positive had become HIV negative. That it was fed with an infant formula with a high coconut oil content gains significance in this context and at present an effort was on to find out how the ``viral load'' of an HIV infected baby came down when fed a diet that helped in the generation of Monolaurin in the body.''
The reporter commented on Enig's observations that ``Monolaurin helped in inactivating other viruses such as measles, herpes, vesicular stomatitis and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and that research undertaken so far on coconut oil also indicated that it offered a certain measure of protection against cancer-inducing substances. "
In another article published in the Indian Coconut Journal, Sept., 1995, Dr. Enig stated:
``Recognition of the antimicrobial activity of the monoglyceride of lauric acid (Monolaurin) has been reported since 1966. The seminal work can be credited to Jon Kabara. This early research was directed atthe virucidal effects because of possible problems related to food preservation. Some of the early work by Hierholzer and Kabara (1982) that showed virucidal effects of Monolaurin on enveloped RNA and DNA viruses was done in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control of the US Public Health Service with selected prototypes or recognized strains of enveloped viruses. The envelope of these viruses is a lipid membrane.''
Enig stated in her article that Monolaurin, of which the precursor is lauric acid, disrupted the lipid membranes of envelope viruses and also inactivated bacteria, yeast and fungi. She wrote:``Of the saturated fatty acids, lauric acid has greater antiviral activity than either caprylic acid (C-10) or myristic acid (C-14). The action attributed to Monolaurin is that of solubilizing the lipids ..in the envelope of the virus causing the disintegration of the virus envelope.'' In India, coconut oil is fed to calves to treat Cryptosporidium as reported by Lark Lands Ph.D. in her upcoming book ``Positively Well'' (1).
While HHV-6A was not mentioned by Enig, HHV-6A is an enveloped virus and would be expected to disintegrate in the presence of lauric acid and/or Monolaurin. Some of the pathogens reported by Enig to be inactivated by Monolaurin include HIV, measles, vercular stomatitis virus (VSV), herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), visna, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Influenza virus, Pneumonovirus, Syncytial virus and Rubeola. Some bacteria inactivated by Monolaurin include listeria, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Groups A, B, F and G streptococci, Gram-positive organisms; and gram-negative organisms, if treated with chelator.
Enig reported that only one infant formula ``Impact'' contains lauric acid while the more widely promoted formulas like ``Ensure'' do not contain lauric acid and often contain some hydrogenated fats (trans fatty acids). A modified ester of lauric acid, Monolaurin (available in capsules), is sold in health food stores and is manufactured by Ecological Formulas, Concord, CA.
ENIG ON A THERAPEUTIC DOSE
Based on her calculations on the amount of lauric acid found in human Mother's milk, Dr. Enig suggests a rich lauric acid diet would contain about 24 grams of lauric acid daily for the average adult. This amount could be found in about 3.5 tablespoons of coconut oil or 10 ounces of ``Pure Coconut Milk.'' Coconut Milk is made in Sri Lanka and imported into the United States. It can be found in health food stores and in local grocery stores in the International Foods section or in specialty grocery stores that sell products imported from Thailand, the Philippines or East India. About 7 ounces of raw coconut daily would contain 24 grams of lauric acid. 24 grams of lauric acid is the therapeutic daily dose for adults suggested by Mary Enig based on her research of the lauric acid content of mother's milk. (1)
1. Positively Well, by Lark Lands Ph.D. Her new book discusses lauric acid and suggests many treatment options for persons with AIDS or CFIDS and may be ordered by calling 905-672-7470 or 800-542-8102
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE ANTI-VIRAL EFFECTS OF LAURIC ACID
Mary Enig cites 24 references in her 7 page article on ``Lauric Acid for HIV-infected Individuals,'' a few of which are as follows:
( references deleted; see website----------)
------------------------------------ http://www.villageorganics.com/cocmilor14oz.html
(not selling; just pulled this up to check sugar content of coconut milk as a drink)
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: 1/4 cup (60g)
Servings: About 7
Calories 100 (Cal from Fat 90), Total Fat 11g 17% (Saturated Fat 10g 48%), Cholesterol 0mg 0%, Sodium 5mg 0%, Total Carb 1g 0% (Dietary Fiber 0g 0%, Sugars 1g), Protein 1g, Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 0%, Iron 10%
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http://www.drinksmixer.com/desc77.html
Coconut Milk
The result of mixing the grated meat of a ripe coconut with warm water and squeezing out the juice. Available canned and frozen.
(per 1 oz serving)
Calories 65
Energy (kj)272
Fats 6.8 g
Carbohydrates1.6 g
Protein0.7 g
Fiber 0.6 g
Sugars 1 g (this is per one ounce, so if I drank 7 ounces a day, it would be 7 grams of sugar)
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 4.3 mg
Alcohol 0 g
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f you've ever opened a fresh coconut, you will have seen the thin, opaque almost clear coconut juice or water which has a slight almond flavor. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the coconut milk. However, the water is consumed as a drink fresh from the coconut by many, and it can also be used in recipes.
Here is some information about Coconut Water:
"It's a natural isotonic beverage, with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It's the fluid of life, so to speak." In fact, during the Pacific War of 1941-45, both sides in the conflict regularly used coconut water - siphoned directly from the nut - to give emergency plasma trasfusions to wounded soldiers.
Most coconut water is still consumed fresh in tropical coastal areas - once exposed to air, the liquid rapidly loses most of its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, and begins to ferment.�
* Coconut Water is More Nutritious than whole milk - Less fat and NO cholesterol!
* Coconut Water is More Healthy than Orange Juice - Much lower calories
* Coconut Water is Better than processed baby milk- It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother's milk
* Coconut water is naturally sterile -- Water permeates though the filtering husk!
* Coconut water is a universal donor-- Its identical to human blook plasma
* Coconut Water is a Natural Isotonic Beverage - The same level we have in our blood.
* Coconut water has saved lives in 3rd world countries thru Coconut IV.
"Coconut water is the very stuff of Nature, biologically Pure, full of Natural Sugars, Salts, and Vitamins to ward off fatigue... and is the next wave of energy drinks BUT natural!", according to Mortin Satin, Chielf of the United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organization.
Coconut water contains more potassium (at about 294 mg) than most sports drinks (117 mg) and most energy drinks.�
Coconut water has less sodium (25mg) where sports drinks have around 41mg and energy drinks have about 200 mg!
Coconut water has 5mg of Natural Sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of Altered Sugars.�
Coconut water is very high in Chloride at 118mg, compared to sports drinks at about 39mg.�
Data is based on a 100ml drink.
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