Liz Applegate, director of sports nutrition at the University of California-Davis, thinks coconut water is fine to drink for hydration — if you like the taste.

Applegate takes issue with some of the health endorsements including weight loss and heart health claims.

It would be nice to see this kind of scrutiny given to all nutritional claims made by big business:

Most of these sites that promote and sell coconut oil originate from coconut-producing countries, including India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Instead of research studies, you’ll find articles written by coconut oil advocates — including Mary Enig, vice president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a controversial organization that is critical of “traditional diets” and extols the benefits of saturated fat.

What are trans fats? They are poison in our food supply. “The latest government study confirms that trans fat is directly related with heart disease and increases LDL cholesterol. Because of that, the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, declared there is no safe amount of trans fat in the diet.”8 “There should be a warning on food made with this stuff like there is on nicotine products. It’s that bad for you, says Dr. Jeffery Aron, a University of California at San Francisco professor of medicine and one of the nation’s leading experts on fatty acids and their effect on the body.9

(Fats, cholesterol, and the lipid hypothesis)

Saturated fats’ roles in the body include: [1]

• They constitute at least 50% of our cell membranes and give our cells integrity.
• They play a vital role in the health of our bones.
• They lower Lp(a), a substance in the blood that is said to indicate proneness to heart disease.
• They protect the liver from alcohol and other toxins like Tylenol (Acetaminophen).
• They enhance the immune system.
• They are needed for proper utilization of essential fatty acids.
• Stearic acid and palmitic acid, both saturated fats, are the preferred energy source of the heart. This is why the fat around the heart muscle is mainly saturated. The best sources for palmitic acid are beef, butter and palm oil.
• Short and medium chain saturated fatty acids have strong antimicrobial properties. They help protect us from harmful microorganisms. The best sources are tropical oils such as coconut oil and palm oil.
(Enig, Mary., and Sally Fallon. “The Skinny on Fats,” westonaprice.org

http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html#benefits)

Conclusion: Saturated fat consumption was not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or stroke
(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Jan 13, 2010)

Data on the physiologic effects of caloric restriction in rhesus monkeys resembles rodent studies demonstrating reduced body and fat mass, lower blood glucose, insulin, leptin, free T3 (decreased body temperature), and serum triglycerides. Interestingly, centenarians have lower blood glucose, insulin, leptin, free T3 and serum triglycerides than those who do not live to be over one hundred years old. One can conclude, the fundamental mechanism by which calorie restriction improves lifespan appears to alter these metabolic factors.

A new study analyzed the data from patients attending a private practice. These patients were referred for the treatment of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, overweight, fatigue, and other chronic diseases of aging.

The diet:
• Calories were not explicitly restricted; patients were told to eat when they were hungry.
• Recommended sources of fat included; raw nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, olive oil, flax oil, and cod liver oil.
• Protein intake was limited to 1.0g/kg of lean body mass. If the subjects exercised it was increased to 1.25g/kg.
• Recommended sources of protein included sardines, fish, eggs, tofu, chicken, turkey, wild meats, low fat cheeses, seafood, and vege burgers.
• Carbohydrate sources included only non-starchy fibrous veges; lettuce, greens, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, peppers, etc.
The average daily macronutrient intake ended up being 20% carbs (most of which was fiber), 20% protein, and 60% fats.

The results: Serum insulin decreased by 48 percent, leptin decreased by 8 percent, fasting glucose by 40 percent, triglyceride by nearly 8 percent, and free T3 by almost 6 percent.

The key factor in this study is the participants were not limited in the amount of food they could consume. The researchers wanted to focus on the types of foods or macronutrients that would result in improved health and a longer life.

The researchers performed two separate but related experiments. In the first scenario, the scientists gave four women plain, white T-shirts. The women wore the shirts when they slept over three days during ovulation or late follicular phase. Five days later, the women again wore T-shirts for three days when they slept during the luteal phase, which is far from ovulation. At the end of every night sleep the shirts were collected and put in bags separately then frozen.

In the second experiment, the scientists added an extra variable: fresh T-shirts that hadn’t been worn by anyone, which were also placed in bags.

The researchers asked dozens of men to stick their noses into the bags. As the men sniffed the shirts, scientists sampled the participants’ saliva, which was used to measure testosterone. Men who smelled the shirts of ovulating women in the first experiment had, on average, testosterone levels that were 37 percent higher than the men who smelled the shirts of non-ovulating women. For the second experiment, the testosterone levels of the men who smelled the T-shirts of ovulating women were, on average, 15 percent higher than men who sniffed the two other T-shirt samples.
(Psycological Science)

Researchers found that while the sperm counts of genistein-exposed males were normal, they had smaller testes and a larger prostate gland than unexposed rats. They also had lower testosterone levels and were less likely to ejaculate than unexposed rats.

The effects of genistein exposure continued long after the rats were exposed, leading researchers to say that exposure during reproductive development may have negative, long-term consequences in males.

It is thought that genistein may act as an estrogen or an anti-androgen, blocking the function of the sex hormones, known as endogenous androgens, necessary for males to develop a normal reproductive system.
(J urol2003;169(4):1582-6)

The human sex drive is so intense, and having sex is so pleasurable, people are willing to do almost anything to heighten or improve their sexual desires and experiences. This includes engaging in activities that risk and possibly ruin their personal and professional lives. But this is nothing new. People have been seeking ways to improve their sex lives for thousands of years.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see so many ads for sexual enhancement. You can buy everything from creams and pills to various contraptions, but does this stuff work? Can you increase your libido or performance? Does hormone therapy work? Does the size of a man’s johnson matter? And if it does, can you make it bigger just by taking a pill? Can over-the-counter products help erectile dysfunction?

In this recent article, Sexual Rx: The research, I have made a compilation of interesting studies I’ve seen over the last year or so I thought readers would find interesting.

Photo from fOTOGLIF