Tip The Truth About MCT Oil Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Eating Tip The Truth About MCT Oil Are you using MCTs Maybe you are Maybe you just THINK you are Here' s what you need to know by TC Luoma October 7, 2020April 5, 2021 Tags Good Fats, Nutrition & Supplements Don t Confuse Coconut Oil with MCT Oil Coconut oil is the darling of the keto dieters, as they often use it to provide energy to their carb-starved bodies and to facilitate their mystical transition into ketosis... or so they think. Many keto dieters are under the impression that coconut oil is synonymous or virtually synonymous with the fatty acids known as medium chain triglycerides, or MCTs. MCTs are cool because, unlike long-chain triglycerides (LCT), they skip an important biochemical step and are directly transported into the portal vein and shuttled to the liver, where they quickly provide energy. MCTs also enter mitochondria independently and are converted to two ketone bodies that are then further metabolized to produce CO2, water, and energy instead of being deposited as fat. That's huge. Contrast that with LCTs. They combine with proteins to form chylomicrons that enter blood through the lymphatic system and mostly bypass the liver. Unfortunately, as these lipoproteins circulate round and round the body, they deposit fatty acids to tissues, thereby contributing to your porkiness. To make matters worse, some of these fatty acids are troweled onto artery walls. Here s Where It Gets Tricky Coconut oil contains three fatty acids that are usually considered to be MCTs: caprylic acid, capric acid, and the most abundant and mythologized one, lauric acid. Depending on who you talk to, between 15% and 55% of the oils in coconut oil are MCTs, but let's be generous and assume that number is 50%. Great, but lauric acid, the predominant "MCT" in coconut oil, is metabolized more like a long-chain fatty acid, thus throwing the MCT magic of coconut oil into question. Between 70 and 75% of lauric acid is absorbed and transported by the same chylomicrons that are associated with LCTs and run around the body slapping fatty acids against your blood vessel walls and fat cells. That means that if you're lucky, only about a third of the fatty acids in coconut oil are absorbed like MCTs and wouldn't be stored as fat or muck up your cardiovascular system. The Lesson None of the research on the alleged benefits of MCTs can be applied to coconut oil because it's made up of a variety of short-chain, medium-chain, and long-chain fatty acids. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Eating Omega-7 The Lifter s Fatty Acid Want to be leaner, healthier, and build more muscle? Get more Omega-7's in your diet. Here's why, plus the foods you need to eat. Diet Strategy, Dietary Myth Busting, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Bill Roberts April 28 Diet & Fat Loss Tip The Healthy Practice That Makes You Pudgy It doesn't make you lean and it really isn't all that healthy. Oh, and it certainly doesn't detoxify anything. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips TC Luoma August 7 Diet & Fat Loss Tip Put Your Gut Health First You are what you eat, right? Not really. Here's what you need to know. Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Paul Carter October 18 Diet & Fat Loss Avoid This Ketogenic Rip-Off If your goal is getting in and staying in ketosis for fat loss, then skip these bogus “keto” supplements. They may even make you fatter. Carbohydrate Control, Dietary Myth Busting, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Mike Sheridan August 31