I've been taking coconut oil on and off, but I'm thinking about getting some MCT oil. What are people's experiences with this? Does anyone know if there are advantages to one or the other? Thanks.

I'd say the fact that coconut oil is natural and unprocessed would be a plus in it's favor, but I haven't tried MCT oil. I'm just a fan of things that are not overly processed.

MCT Oil doesn't harden at room temperature and it is utterly tasteless. I use it as salad oil now.

Nancy, could you post a little info about the MCT oil you use? Should I look for "virgin" or "coldpressed" or anything like that on the label? I've never seen it in the stores, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find it in one of the many health food stores around here. I'm looking for a nice, tasteless oil to use when I make mayo.

It is made by NOW foods and I think I bought it from iherb.com.link

Oh, this looks interesting: http://www.lewybodydementia.org/for...opic.php?t=1127

Oh wow, nice chart! MCT Oil beats Coconut oil by a mile for having MCTs.. I think. Well, they're a different sort. C12 is a MCT that is more in coconut oil.

.............MCT1.....MCT2.....Coco1.....Coco2......Palm......PKO..GoatM ilk
C4.......... 0...........0.............0............0............0............0...... ....4%
C6.......... 0...........0.............0............0............0............0...... ....3%
C8..........55%......67%........8%.........5%.........0............3%... ....3%
C10........45%......33%........6%.........5%.........0............3%.... ...8%
C12........ 0 ......... 0 .......... 57%.......55%........0...........48%.....3%
C14........ 0 ......... 0 ..........17%........20%.......1%........16%......8%
C16........ 0 ......... 0 ............6%.........8%.......32%........8%......22%
C18........ 0 ......... 0 ............0............3%........3%.........3%......11%
C18:1..... 0 ......... 0 ...........4%.........5%........49%.......15%.....25%
C18:2 .... 0 ......... 0 ............0...........1%........14%........2%.......3%

Medium Chain Fatty Acids

C6 Hexanoic (Hexanoate) Caproic (Caproate)
C8 Octanoic (Octanoate) Caprylic (Caprylate)
C10 Decanoic (Decanoate) Capric (Caprate)
C12 Dodecanoic (Dodecanoate) Lauric (Laurate)

Thanks! That gives me an idea of what to look for!

Big thumbs down to MCTs if one is low\zero carbing. The fatty chain structure makes it more like a carb..so you will burn that before you burn free fatty acids...stored bodyfat that we are all trying to do

Use coconut oil..it has lots of cool health giving properties and tastes good..MCTs can be really hard on the stomach as well.

Awesome Nancy, thanks so much!

I found this study:

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/c...full/287/3/R524

where they infused either lauric (C12) or capric (C10) acid or saline into 12 healthy men's small intestine. C12 caused some nausea and bloating while they did this, but it went away. It also slowed gut motility and increased release of two gut hormones. Then they offered the subjects food. The C10 and control guys ate 1000 calories, but the C12 guys ate 400. (Even the subjects who didn't get nauseated ate less).

So, the conclusion is that C12, but not C10, suppresses appetite/eating. That's actually been my experience with coconut oil- no hunger after I eat it. I need to keep reading about this. For now I'm going to keep eating CO, since I have some. Anyone have MCT experiences to share?

I don't like mayo made with coconut oil. I detest and abhor olive oil. I haven't tried sunflower seed oil yet. Any other suggestions besides MCT?

I follow lc for my health. My only interest in losing weight is for the health benefits. Otherwise, I couldn't care less.

I've heard that MCT oil is helpful to people, like me, who have seizure disorders.

What oil would you recommend?

Kisal,
MCT's do help those with seizures..are you taking Dilantin as well?

Gosh for a cooking oil, coconut oil is really the only oil one should use. I hate olive oil as well and it becomes quite unstable when heated. Sunflower oil...too much 6..

I know a trainer who insists that Walnut oil and Macadamia nut oil are good alternatives..I'm not so sure, but his women that he train use Mac oil and love it and notice some health benefits from them even though they are an omega 9 fatty acid and not omega 3's

Give it a whirl..I think it may be a little pricey though.

Actually, I can tolerate MCT oil much better than I can coconut oil.

Nancy you are a rare bird..MCT's have a huge rep for stomach upset. It is highly recommended that you start very low and build up. I know people who have had some serious problems who don't start low. It should never be taken on an empty stomach cause it can cramps.

I took Dilantin, along with 4 other antiseizure meds, for over 20 years, until my bones started to crumble away! Nobody ever bothered to tell me that could be a side effect of Dilantin, and despite that fact that I was breaking bones right and left, it took a number of years before anyone caught on to the idea that it might be the Dilantin! So, no Dilantin for me any more!

I have been taken off of most of my Tegretol and all of my Depakote. I still take primidone, and they're trying to get me started on lamictal (not sure that's spelled right, sorry.) Anyway, the lamictal seems to prevent me from sleeping, so they've added atavan to my daily regimen. (My docs are treating me like a guinea pig again! )

I haven't had any seizures for 4 years, which, interestingly, is the same length of time I've been following lc. I have a hard time staying in ketosis, though, which according to the studies I've read regarding the Atkins plan and seizure disorders in adults, seems to be an important criteria for success.

Hence, I thought I'd try adding MCT oil to my diet, just to see if it might help me stay in ketosis, if nothing else. The mayo doesn't get cooked at all, so I though that might be a good vehicle to use to get some MCT into my daily plan. I use mayo quite a lot.

Any ideas/suggestions?

You probably are in ketosis you just don't spill ketones any longer. I think when one first starts LC their body doesn't know how to make use of ketones and so you excrete a lot of them. But as time goes by, your body gets efficient at using them, so they don't get excreted.

Still, it probably wouldn't hurt anything to use the MCT oil, or coconut.

Congrats on not having any seizures!

Hyperlipid has a posting on MCT Oil today, about brain diseases mostly but there's an interesting rat study too.

http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot....nd-ketones.html